The Difference
by starzee
Summary: Damon and Alaric leave Mystic Falls - Three years later they return and Damon has changed. Completely.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own The Vampire Diaries, I'm just a fan :)

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><p><strong>AN: Damon will be OOC in this fic but that's the point.**

The Difference

Chapter 1 - Introduction

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><p>They managed to get Stefan back a month after he was taken and Damon got him back on animal blood. By the time Stefan was stable, he and Damon were on really good terms. They decided to start over. Damon waited until Stefan was stable then he left Mystic Falls with the knowledge that he and his brother were friends again. The most surprising thing was that Ric went with Damon. They didn't even tell anyone they were leaving.<p>

Damon went and spoke to everyone individually before he left. He apologised to Caroline and told her she was beautiful and deserved someone great and he would kill anyone who hurt her. She'd been really happy with that.

He apologised to Jeremy for snapping his neck and told him that he was a good guy and was glad to have met him. Jeremy had been thrilled at that.

He apologised to Bonnie for everything and told her that she was special and to never give up fighting the good fight and promised to try to not kill anyone. Bonnie smiled at him and hugged him as she sensed magically what he wasn't telling her – that he was leaving. She told him to look out for himself as against her better judgement, she gave a crap – he laughed and told her the feeling was mutual.

Damon apologised to Tyler for killing Mason when obviously there could have been a better way given Tyler's friendship with Caroline. Tyler apologised for biting him. Damon said 'what bite?' with a smirk then disappeared leaving Tyler unable to stay mad at the vampire.

Damon didn't say anything at all to Elena.

Then he and Ric took off. Damon had no contact with anyone and made Ric promise to not give anyone any information about him when he spoke to them. He allowed Ric to tell Stefan that he was fine but otherwise Stefan knew nothing about how Damon was doing.

Just over three years later, Damon reluctantly agreed to go back to Mystic Falls with Ric for Stefan and Elena's engagement party. Nobody knew he was coming as Ric hadn't told them even though Stefan had asked for Damon to come. A lot had changed in three years. The residents of Mystic Falls were about to get a bit of a shock...


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own The Vampire Diaries, I'm just a fan :)

**A/N: Reminder - yes I know Damon is OOC, that's the point.**

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><p>The Difference<p>

Chapter 2

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><p>They drove up to the boarding house and parked. Ric was excited to see everyone so he darted straight into the house. Stefan, Elena, Caroline, Bonnie, Jeremy and Tyler were all sitting in the living room and they grinned at the sight of him. He'd left the door to the boarding house open and they just figured it was because he was going to go get his bags after he greeted them.<p>

"Hey!" Ric exclaimed and everyone said hi back and hugged him.

"It's good to see you, Ric." Jeremy grinned.

"It's great to see you too, Jer. All of you." Ric smiled. "It's even better to be out of that car. I feel like I've been in it for days." He chuckled and they laughed.

"Ric, do I look like a busboy?" Every head in the room snapped to the door then their jaws dropped at the sight of Damon. None of them had expected to see him... Possibly ever again. He carried in the bags and dumped them at the foot of the steps. He looked _so_ different. His hair was cut short, he had a stubble beard and stubble moustache, he was wearing black jeans, a white shirt and a black suit jacket with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows – all the girls thought he'd been hot before but now he was just _wow_. Everybody stood gaping at him for a while and he laughed a little. "Don't all say hi at once." Damon smiled – not smirked – smiled.

"Damon." Stefan grinned then walked into the hallway. Everyone was shocked when Damon hugged him. Stefan hugged back immediately.

"I missed you, Stef." Damon smiled. Everyone except Ric started glancing at each other a little in disbelief.

"I missed you too." Stefan said in surprise. "You look really weird." Stefan said and Damon laughed.

"Did you get all of the bags?" Ric asked him and Damon sighed.

"Yes, Alaric." Damon said and Ric chuckled.

"Did you get the cooler?" Ric asked and Damon rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Alaric." Damon said and they laughed at his bored tone. At least he was sort of still in there. Stefan closed the door then Damon walked into the living room. Elena hugged him and he hugged her back awkwardly. He was completely over her but now it was just uncomfortable seeing her. Bonnie, Caroline and Jeremy hugged him too then they all went and sat down. Damon sat next to Ric on the couch.

"I'm glad you came." Stefan grinned at Damon.

"I was hardly going to miss my little brother's engagement, was I?" Damon smiled. "Someone will have to give an embarrassing speech about you." Damon smirked and they laughed.

"When's the wedding?" Ric asked curiously.

"In six months." Elena smiled.

"Is it in Mystic Falls?" Ric asked.

"Yeah, it's the same church my parents got married in." Elena nodded.

"That'll be nice." Damon nodded. It was obvious that Damon wasn't remotely interested in Elena.

"Can I bring a date?" Ric asked curiously and they laughed.

"I would have expected Damon to be the one to ask that." Jeremy smirked and Damon shrugged.

"Ric's taken over for me in the whoring himself around department." Damon chuckled.

"What does that mean?" Stefan asked surprised.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Jeremy asked and Ric laughed.

"Not anymore." He smirked at Damon who rolled his eyes.

"Maybe if you hadn't constantly pissed her off, I still would have." Damon smirked back at him.

"Damon's latest ex was a total bitch." Ric said amused and every jaw in the room dropped that Ric would say that to Damon but Damon just laughed.

"No, she wasn't. She was just a bitch to you because you slept with both of her sisters." Damon laughed as did Ric. "Then didn't remember their names."

"They were twins, Damon. I thought they were the same girl." He said and then both of them burst into laughter. None of them had ever seen Damon so relaxed.

"He causes so many problems." Damon said amused pointing to Ric.

"Shut up, Damon. It's payback for turning my wife." Ric said with a smirk and Damon laughed. They always teased each other but Ric didn't actually hold any sort of grudge against Damon at all. They were the very best of friends now.

"You're still going on about that?" Damon smiled. "I also turned you but you never bring that up." Damon chuckled and everyone's eyes widened. Nobody knew that Alaric was a vampire. Alaric laughed.

"Yeah, but that was so funny." Ric said then they both burst into hysterical laughter.

"Ric's got the funniest turning story ever." Damon said between laughs.

"What happened?" Caroline asked with a wide smile. She thought it was nice to see Damon like this... even if it was kind of shocking.

"The two of us were beyond wasted. Like could barely move wasted." Ric laughed.

"Then this one turns to me and says 'Dude, I'm totally going to die of liver failure so you might as well kill me.'" Damon laughed looking at Alaric. "I was like 'Uh, what? How does that make any sense?' and he said 'Duh, I meant turn me then we can both drink as much as we want' so I just shrugged and bit into my wrist and held it out to him. He drank my blood then looked at me and I asked him how he wanted to go and he was just like 'Uh... I didn't really think that far ahead'." Damon was laughing as was everyone else in the room.

"Then I decided to think about how he should do it but I really needed to pee so I got up to go to the bathroom, slipped then fell down the stairs and broke my neck." Ric laughed.

"Then he came back in transition sober and was like, 'uh... what the hell happened? Did I turn?'" Damon said amused.

"Damon was still wasted and was like, 'You didn't have to break your _own_ neck, dude. I was totally hungry.'" Ric laughed as did everyone else.

"That is the funniest turning story ever." Stefan laughed.

"I was so pissed that I came back sober though." Ric said and they laughed.

"You didn't stay sober long if you remember." Damon smirked.

"When did you turn?" Stefan asked curiously.

"Uh..." Ric said as he thought about it. "A little over two and a half years ago." Ric said with a shrug. Everyone was surprised that it was so long ago.

"What was your girlfriend's name?" Jeremy asked Damon and he rolled his eyes knowing Ric was going to start.

"Oh, god." Damon muttered.

"She had the dumbest name ever." Ric laughed loudly. "Zytanya." He said and everyone laughed.

"Alaric is the dumbest name ever." Damon countered and he laughed.

"No, dude. Even Alaric is better than Zytanya." He chuckled and Damon smirked.

"She was from Russia. They have names like that over there." Damon countered.

"Yeah, but you had to be the one to date her." Ric said and Damon rolled his eyes.

"Why'd you break up?" Stefan asked and Damon chuckled.

"She said that I had to kick Ric out of the apartment." Damon shrugged. "We'd only been together for like four months so I was hardly throwing my best friend out for some chick." He said and everyone looked shocked that Damon would say that whole sentence.

"Bros before hos." Ric smirked then he and Damon bumped fists then laughed again.

"Damon, you're really different." Bonnie blurted shocked and he smirked.

"I lost a bet so Ric made me go to anger management." He said and they laughed in disbelief. "That crap actually works though. That and a lot of weed." Damon grinned.

"Are you two high?" Stefan asked amused and they glanced at each other.

"Little bit." They said in unison then laughed again.

"Ric hotboxed the car so it's not my fault." Damon chuckled. "He does it way more than I do though." Damon smirked.

"That's because we can't be high when we're Mr Corporate, can we?" Ric asked amused and Damon rolled his eyes.

"_You_ have a _job_?" Stefan asked shocked and Damon chuckled.

"Yeah, I'm the corporate division senior manager for Saks Fifth Avenue." Damon nodded and everyone's jaws dropped.

"So jealous!" Caroline said and Damon chuckled.

"You know, you can use my discount, Caroline." He winked at her and she blinked in surprise that he would be so nice.

"What's your discount?" She asked curiously and he smirked.

"75% off _everything_ in store." Damon said and she gasped.

"Oh my god! I'm so going to New York as soon as possible." She said and he chuckled.

"We have a spare bedroom if you want to stay with us." Ric said.

"You wouldn't mind?" She asked stunned.

"Nope." Damon shook his head. "Ric can show you the whole clubbing scene too." Damon nodded.

"Why just Ric?" Stefan asked and Damon chuckled.

"Because Damon is seriously boring." Ric said and Damon laughed. Everyone watched the two of them in disbelief. What the hell had happened to Damon?

"Am not." Damon said affronted.

"You are too. Oh and Damon is also Mr Relationship guy now." Ric teased and Damon rolled his eyes.

"Am not." Damon said.

"You've had four girlfriends in three years. You are so." Ric said and Damon chuckled.

"That doesn't mean anything." Damon replied.

"You've had four girlfriends? Like _actual _girlfriends?" Stefan asked shocked.

"Yeah." Damon nodded.

"And not even at the same time." Ric pointed out and they laughed. "When was the last time you even _had_ a one night stand?" Ric asked him and Damon thought about it.

"Uh..." He said and everyone gaped at him. "Two months ago." Damon said.

"You haven't gotten laid in two months?" Jeremy asked in disbelief. "I'm seriously worried about you now." He said and Damon chuckled.

"I have, it just wasn't a one night stand." Damon pointed out.

"Who was it then?" Jeremy asked.

"I have a 'special friend' for when I'm single." He smirked and they laughed.

"Have you been in New York the whole time?" Caroline asked.

"No, we moved there when Alaric turned." Damon shrugged. Just then his phone rang. "One sec." He said with a grin when he saw who it was then hurried out of the room to answer his phone.

"Damon is so different." Elena whispered to Ric who nodded.

"He's happy now." Ric said. "We've built a really great life in New York."

"Ric?" Damon called as he came back in the room a minute or so later. Ric looked up at him and saw Damon covering his phone with his hand. "When are we going home?" He asked.

"Why?" Ric asked curiously.

"Because Zoe just found out that she got the job in Tokyo and she's having a going away party." Damon said.

"When?" He asked.

"She doesn't want to set a date until she knows we'll be back for it." Damon said. Ric knew what he was really saying but had to play along.

"When do you have to be back at work?" Ric asked.

"Dude, you know I can do whatever the hell I want unless there's a problem." Damon smirked and Ric laughed.

"Fine, well, today's Friday... want to go back on Tuesday or Wednesday?" Ric asked and Damon nodded then hurried back out of the room.

"Who's Zoe?" Stefan asked curiously.

"She's a really good friend of ours. She's also Damon's ex but they're like best friends." Ric shrugged.

"Why are they ex's?" Stefan asked.

"Because they're too similar in a lot of ways. They ended up being really just friends who had sex so they stopped going out because they both saw it was pointless." Ric shrugged.

"Is she a vampire?" Elena asked and Ric shook his head.

"No, but she knows that we are. She's going to turn after her year in Tokyo." Ric shrugged.

"It sounds like the two of you really like New York." Caroline said and Ric nodded.

"It's great. It really is. We're going to stay there until people notice we aren't aging. So since both of us were a little older when we turned, that could be maybe five or six years." Ric said.

"Is Damon really working as a corporate manager?" Stefan asked sceptically and Ric laughed.

"He wears suits and has a brief case and everything." Ric smiled amused and they all looked stunned.

"Why there though?" Jeremy asked curiously.

"Zoe got him the job while they were dating just because he was bored then he realised he actually loved the job so he stuck with it. He's been promoted twice without any compulsion." Ric smiled.

"That's cool. I'd love to work somewhere like that." Caroline said and Ric nodded.

"Talk to Damon. He could get you a job there if you wanted that." Ric said.

"Would he?" She asked sceptically and Ric chuckled.

"Yeah, he would." Ric nodded.

"What have you been doing in New York?" Bonnie asked.

"I manage a nightclub." Ric said.

"That's really different than being a history teacher." Stefan laughed.

"Yeah, but when we were out on the road I realised that I can do whatever the hell I want and that was something I thought would be fun. And it really is. I love it." Ric smiled.

"What's your club like?" Caroline asked curiously.

"Every night has a different style of party. There's like the dance night, r'n'b night, pop night, rock night... you see what I mean? It's a pretty big club. At full capacity we can hold 5000 people." Ric said and they looked stunned. Just then Damon came in the room and retook his seat. "Did she pick a day?" He asked.

"She wants to know if you can get the VIP room for next Friday." Damon said. Ric pulled out his phone and started pushing buttons.

"It's not reserved. I'll just text Sarah and get her to pencil it in." Ric said and Damon nodded. Ric sent a quick text then put his phone away. "When is she leaving?" Ric asked.

"In like two weeks, I think." Damon replied a little glumly. "But she'll be back for fashion week."

"Who are you taking as your plus one?" Ric asked mischievously and Damon chuckled.

"Actually, I was going to ask Caroline if she wanted to go." Damon said and she grinned.

"I'm in!" She said excitedly and Ric scowled at Damon.

"Dude, last year you didn't watch a single show. Why would I waste the seat again?" Damon asked him amused.

"Fine, I'll just compel my way in to the after parties." He rolled his eyes.

"Like there was any debate about that." Damon smirked at him.

"Do you mean the whole of fashion week?" Caroline asked Damon in disbelief.

"Mmhmm." He nodded and she beamed at him.

"That is so cool. Thanks, Damon." She grinned. Just then there was a beep and Damon sighed and took out a blackberry from his other pocket and typed a few buttons. They all watched his face go to one of disbelief and pure annoyance and he tutted his tongue.

"Can't go away for five minutes." Damon muttered and Ric laughed.

"Mandy?" He asked amused and Damon nodded.

"Isn't it always? I didn't know vampires could get migraines until I met her." Damon mumbled as he dialled her number. Everyone watched him in curiosity. Seconds later she answered. "You sent me that in an email?" He said to her annoyed and they were all surprised at his change in tone. "Tell me what you did. Now." He said. "How the hell can Burberry suddenly be dropping out?" He asked in disbelief and she rambled for a minute. "You agreed to that?" He asked her annoyed. "You are the worst secretary in the history of time and I would know. If you didn't have two kids I would kill you." Damon snapped then hung up on her and Ric laughed.

"What did she do this time?" Ric asked amused. He hadn't been listening because her voice _really_ grated on his ears.

"Stupid idiot set a meeting for me with Burberry this afternoon forgetting I was on my way here and they think I stood them up." Damon said annoyed and shook his head and Ric laughed.

"Damon, just fire her already." Ric said as he laughed.

"Ric, can you do me a favour? Can you eat her when we go home?" Damon asked him and everyone laughed.

"Why can't you do it?" Ric asked him amused.

"Now I have to go skype them." Damon muttered ignoring him as his fingers typed on his blackberry at vampire speed. He got up then stomped into the hall and grabbed his laptop bag and took off upstairs to his room. Ric laughed a little then and shook his head.

"If she's such a bad secretary, why doesn't Damon fire her?" Caroline asked curiously and Ric laughed loudly.

"She's not just a bad secretary. Mandy is the bane of Damon's existence. I think he hates her more than anyone else in the world combined." Ric shook with laughter as did everyone else. "She's beyond terrible." Ric said. "He hates everything about her, but he still can't bring himself to fire her for real because every time he fires her she cries and gives him puppy dog eyes and he ends up taking it back." Ric laughed. "This has been going on since last year." Ric said and everyone laughed.

"Threatening to kill her seems a bit harsh though." Stefan said and Ric chuckled.

"He threatens to kill her like ten times a day. She knows he won't _actually_ kill her." Ric physically shook with laughter. "She knows he's a vampire too because she annoys him so much that his face changes sometimes when she's rambling on at him. He gets that pissed off at her. It's kind of a shame for Mandy because Damon's become so relaxed in all other aspects of his life so he takes it all out on Mandy when she screws up. Which is like a daily occurrence. She's going to have a nervous breakdown." Ric laughed. "Though it's always her fault. He wasn't kidding when he said that she's the worst secretary ever." He said.

"Is she really that bad?" Elena asked amused and Ric nodded.

"I don't even go into Damon's office anymore because I don't have the control he has." Ric said with a smirk. "Damon always says that the day of her funeral will be that happiest day of his life and he's going to go party for a month after it." Ric said and they laughed in disbelief.

"He won't actually kill her though, right?" Bonnie asked and Ric shook his head.

"He hasn't killed anyone since before we left here. He won't kill Mandy." Ric said. They were all shocked that Damon hadn't killed anyone since he was in Mystic Falls. "He'll spend most of his time here on the phone or on skype because the office falls apart without him." Ric laughed.

"Really?" Stefan asked surprised and Ric nodded.

"He called in sick one week to get away from Mandy because he couldn't take it anymore and turned his phone off and didn't check his emails and when he went back to the office, all hell had broken loose. Two members of staff had quit, the tax forms were late so they got a fine, three designers had pulled their lines from Saks and Mandy had accidentally set his office on fire." Ric smirked and they all laughed loudly. "That might have been the closest he got to killing Mandy because his favourite leather jacket was in the office and it was burned completely." Ric said amused and their eyes widened at the memory of the jacket they all knew so well.

"He had that jacket since the seventies." Stefan said shocked and Ric nodded.

"He sent Mandy away on a vacation for a week out of the country after that just so he wouldn't kill her." Ric laughed. "He got a fill in secretary for the week and he said it was the best week of his life." Ric said amused.

"But seriously, why doesn't he fire her?" Caroline asked and Ric glanced upstairs and listened and he could hear Damon trying to sweet talk a woman on skype.

"Mandy has two young kids and their father used to beat her and the kids so she moved to New York to get away from him. If she loses the job, she'll be forced to go back to her home town to live with her parents and that's where their father lives. Damon won't fire her because of that." Ric said very quietly and they all looked stunned. Stefan figured that Damon could relate since their own father had been abusive. "But she is the most annoying young woman that's ever set foot on this earth so, sure he might not fire her and she always ends up with an excellent monthly bonus, but he still says he hates her. I don't really believe that, to be honest, but hey, it's not me she has to work for." Ric said amused. "I think he just likes having someone to yell at now." Ric chuckled.

"Is Damon okay, though? I haven't seen or heard from him in over three years." Stefan said to Ric quietly and Ric smiled.

"Damon's excellent, Stefan." Ric said genuinely. "You don't have anything to worry about."


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own The Vampire Diaries, I'm just a fan :)

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><p>The Difference<p>

Chapter 3

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><p>Damon came back downstairs about half an hour later and he'd taken off the suit jacket so he was just in a short sleeve white shirt and black jeans. He sat back down next to Ric who handed him a glass of bourbon.<p>

"Cheers." Damon mumbled.

"Did you save the day?" Ric asked amused and Damon nodded.

"But I had to promise to take Christina out for dinner when she gets to New York." Damon rolled his eyes and they laughed.

"Dude." Ric screwed up his face. "She's like 50!" He said and Damon chuckled.

"I know." He shook his head and they laughed.

"You need to fire Mandy." Ric said amused and Damon sighed.

"I will. Soon." Damon nodded and Ric laughed.

"You've been saying that for a year, Damon." Ric said and Damon scowled at him.

"You try firing her! It's a fucking nightmare!" Damon exclaimed and Ric laughed.

"Just compel her to not cry." Ric said and Damon rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." Damon muttered. "Anyway, what have you been telling them?" Damon asked Ric and they laughed.

"Ric was just telling us that you went out with a girl called Betsy." Jeremy teased and everyone laughed.

"First of all, her name was Elizabeth. Ric got ridiculously drunk one night and decided that her new name was Betsy. Nobody but Ric called her that." Damon pointed out. "Second, I didn't go out with her." Damon glared at Ric who laughed.

"True, you were just locked in your bedroom for a week with her." Ric said amused and Damon sighed.

"Shut up, Ric." Damon said and they laughed. Just then Damon's blackberry rang. He scowled at the name on the screen and everyone knew who it was. "What is it now, Mandy?" Damon snapped. "Why is a runner coming here tomorrow?" He asked annoyed. "You did what!" He yelled. "You're lucky I'm too far away to drain you dry." Damon said then hung up and Ric laughed.

"What now?" Jeremy asked amused.

"She 'accidentally' put some contracts I signed through the shredder so I need to sign them again." Damon muttered and they laughed.

"I really want to meet this chick." Jeremy laughed.

"No you don't." Both Damon and Alaric said at the same time in serious tones making everyone laugh. Then Damon's phone rang again.

"Whatever it is, don't tell me." Damon said into the phone and everyone tried not to laugh. They watched Damon take a deep breath and close his eyes. "Mandy. Go home. Leave the office. Do it now." Damon said to her. "Don't go into my office!" He yelled into the phone and everyone laughed. "I swear to God I'll kill you if you step foot in my office again. I'll smell it, you know that!" He warned and Ric laughed. "No, no, no! Just leave a note for Sophia. She'll do it." Damon said. "Yes, I'm sure." He said seriously. "Why? Why? Are you kidding me? Because you're the worst secretary in the world! Just get out of the fucking office!" Damon yelled then hung up. He grabbed his glass then downed the whole drink and Ric laughed.

"Why do you threaten to kill her if she knows you won't do it?" Jeremy asked as he laughed and Damon sighed.

"Because one day I might actually snap and do it." Damon muttered and Ric laughed.

"No, you won't." Ric smirked. Damon put his face in his hands.

"I hate her. I hate her so much. I swear I'll dance on her grave." He said and they laughed.

"Just fire her." Caroline giggled. She thought this was hilarious.

"I will." Damon nodded. "Soon." He said and they all laughed.

"What did she want this time?" Elena asked with a smile.

"She called to ask if she could tidy his office to make up for destroying the contracts." Stefan laughed as obviously the vampires could hear her.

"My office is a 'Mandy-free' zone. She's not allowed in there." Damon muttered.

"Because she set it on fire?" Stefan asked amused and Damon nodded.

"Twice." He said and everyone laughed.

"I think I love this chick." Jeremy grinned and both Damon and Ric scowled at him causing everyone to laugh.

"You wouldn't if you met her." Ric said seriously. "By the way, Dante called when you were upstairs." Ric said to Damon.

"And?" Damon asked cocking an eyebrow.

"He wants to go to Vegas in a few weeks." Ric grinned and Damon chuckled.

"Ric, the last time we went to Vegas, you lost $40000. Why would you want to go again?" Damon asked amused.

"So I can win it back. There's a major poker tournament." Ric said.

"Pass." Damon said in a bored tone.

"Oh, c'mon! It'll be fun!" Ric grinned. "Alex, Rob, Tin Tin and Daria already said yes." Ric smirked.

"You go then." Damon shrugged. "You can do things without me, you know." Damon teased and they laughed.

"Dude, stop being such an old man." Ric said.

"Ric, I have too much work to do at the office with fashion week coming up to piss off to Vegas for a drunken weekend which will end up a drunken fortnight like last time." Damon said.

"Why don't we ask Dante to make it after fashion week then?" Ric asked and Damon sighed.

"Well, if anyone could get him to change the date it'd be you." Damon winked at Ric who scowled at Damon but he just laughed.

"Is Dante hot?" Caroline asked and they both laughed.

"Dante is this huge muscled guy that looks like he fell out of a fireman's calendar." Damon smirked.

"Can I meet him?" Caroline grinned.

"Sure, but you're not really his type." Damon chuckled.

"What do you mean?" Caroline asked confused.

"Let's just say, Dante is totally in love with Ric." Damon laughed and Ric scowled at him.

"He's gay?" Caroline asked and they both nodded.

"But you'd never know it if you weren't friends with him. He's like a redneck." Ric said amused and they laughed.

"Are any of your friends vampires?" Stefan asked curiously and they both nodded.

"Dante, Tin Tin and Daria." Damon said.

"What kind of name is Tin Tin?" Elena asked curiously and they laughed.

"It just annoys her." Damon smirked. "Her real name is Maritina."

"Do the others know?" Elena asked.

"Yeah. They were all already friends when we met them." Ric nodded. "Well, except Zoe. She met them when Damon was dating her." Ric said.

"It's weird thinking that we used to date." Damon said amused.

"How long did you date Zoe?" Caroline asked curiously.

"Four months." Damon shrugged. "Though with her it was more like just being friends." He said.

"Damon gets to the four month mark then dumps them." Ric chuckled.

"Except Lily." Damon pointed out and Ric rolled his eyes.

"True." Ric smirked.

"Who's Lily?" Stefan asked.

"Damon's ex-fiancé." Ric said amused and all their jaws dropped. "They were together for just over a year." Ric said. "I like her. You should really get back together with her." Ric said and Damon sighed.

"You were engaged?" Stefan asked shocked and Damon nodded.

"Mmhmm." He said.

"When was that?" Stefan asked.

"Uh..." Damon thought about it. "We broke up seven months ago." Damon said.

"Why didn't you marry her?" Stefan asked stunned.

"Long story short, she wanted me to move to her home town with her and I didn't want to among other reasons." Damon shrugged.

"She didn't move there though." Ric said to Damon.

"How do you know?" Damon asked confused.

"Because Dante bumped into her the other day in Brooklyn and she told him that she renewed her work contract for another three years." Ric said and Damon looked surprised. "Dante asked why she didn't call you and tell you that but apparently she did and Zytanya answered your phone." Ric smirked and Damon rolled his eyes. "She was apparently a bitch to Lily on the phone too." Ric said and Damon sighed.

"Whatever." Damon muttered. "Tanya was a rebound, dude." He shrugged.

"You going to call Lily?" Ric asked with a grin.

"Nope." Damon shook his head.

"Why?" Ric asked in a bit of a whine and Damon laughed.

"You only want her to move back in so she'll cook for you." Damon said amused.

"That's so not true." Ric lied and everyone laughed.

"You really are Mr Relationship now." Jeremy laughed.

"This is the longest he's been single since we moved to New York." Ric said amused and Damon rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, Ric." Damon muttered.

"It is. You'll have a new girlfriend in like two weeks." Ric laughed.

"I will not." Damon countered and Ric smirked.

"You so will. You've been single for just over two months." Ric pointed out. "You'll start getting all emo again." He said amused.

"Shut up, Ric." Damon muttered and they laughed.

"What about the other one?" Bonnie asked curiously.

"What do you mean?" Damon asked confused.

"We've heard about three out of the four. What about the other one?" Bonnie asked and Ric laughed loudly while Damon scowled at him.

"Jenny." Ric grinned at Damon. "Probably the hottest chick that's ever walked this earth."

"Yeah, but she was crazy." Damon smirked. "And not always in the fun way."

"How so?" Stefan asked amused.

"She was really cool for the first three months and Damon was convinced she was the girl for him - I couldn't really disagree with him because she was awesome... then she suddenly got ridiculously paranoid and possessive. She used to follow Damon to see if he was cheating on her." Ric said amused.

"Were you cheating on her?" Jeremy asked and Damon shot him a look that said 'as if'.

"Damon? A _cheater_?" Ric burst into laughter.

"Shut up, Ric." Damon muttered and they laughed.

"Damon is a total sap in relationships. It's like no other women in the world exist." Ric said and Damon sighed. Everyone else looked seriously shocked except Stefan. He knew what Damon was like when they were human.

"Oh for God's sake, shut up, Ric." Damon said annoyed and everyone laughed.

"It's true though." Ric smirked at him.

"I'm not a sap. I just don't see the point in having a girlfriend if you want to go screw someone else." Damon shrugged. Just then his pocket beeped and they all watched amused as Damon pulled out a third phone from his pocket and smirked at his message.

"You have three phones?" Stefan asked amused.

"Mmhmm. One for work, one for friends and one for chicks." Damon winked and they laughed.

"Who text you?" Ric asked amused.

"Nobody important." Damon said after he sent a text back and put the phone back in his pocket.

"Who?" Ric asked with a grin and Damon rolled his eyes.

"Don't get mad." Damon said to him.

"Don't tell me it was Becky." Ric said and Damon smirked.

"Okay, I won't." Damon said amused and they laughed.

"Why is Becky texting you?" Ric asked suspiciously and Damon laughed.

"No reason." Damon smirked.

"Damon." Ric said annoyed.

"She may have sort of... asked me out." Damon said amused and Ric scowled at him.

"You're a dick." Ric said and Damon laughed.

"You took too long, dude." Damon replied.

"No, I was just taking my time with it." Ric said and Damon laughed.

"Ric, you haven't had a single girlfriend since we moved to New York. Becky knows that she'd only be a conquest to you. Why would she go there?" Damon asked amused.

"I have so had a girlfriend." Ric countered.

"No you haven't."

"Yeah, I have."

"No, you really haven't." Damon smirked and they laughed at their little argument.

"Yeah, I really have."

"Who?" Damon asked amused.

"Molly." Ric said.

"Molly doesn't count." Damon said.

"She does so count." Ric defended.

"No, she doesn't." Damon said amused.

"The hell she doesn't." Ric said annoyed.

"No, she doesn't count since you couldn't keep your pants on the whole time you were together." Damon smirked and everyone laughed at them totally arguing like an old married couple.

"Whatever. Did you agree to go out with her?" Ric asked and Damon shrugged.

"I told her I'd think about it." Damon smirked.

"Why?" Ric asked in disbelief. "She's so hot." He said and Damon nodded.

"Yeah, but she works at your club. If it was a crap date, things might be awkward for you." Damon said and they were all stunned that Damon would be considerate like that. Well, all except Ric. "Besides, she'd probably only be a conquest for me too." Damon said amused.

"No way, she's totally girlfriend material." Ric said and Damon rolled his eyes.

"Then you ask her out." Damon said. "Attempt to keep your pants on this time." Damon smirked and they laughed.

"I can't ask her out after she's asked you out." Ric said and Damon laughed.

"You asked Molly out after she asked me out." Damon smirked and Ric's jaw dropped.

"You didn't tell me that." Ric said annoyed and he laughed.

"Ric, all your girls like me first, after or even during if you remember that one time on the couch." Damon smirked and they laughed.

"That was embarrassing." Ric muttered.

"I'm just way hotter than you, dude." Damon said amused and everyone was kind of relieved to see he was still cocky. Ric just rolled his eyes at him as he was used to Damon.

"What was embarrassing?" Elena grinned and Damon laughed while Ric scowled at him.

"Don't tell them that." Ric said and Damon chuckled.

"Payback for calling me a sap." Damon winked and Ric glared at him. "I came home from work one day to find Ric butt naked _busy _on the couch with one of his girls and she totally checked me out right in the middle of it and was like '_Hey_'." Damon said seductively and they all laughed loudly while Ric blushed a little.

"That's hilarious." Stefan said amused.

"Anyway." Ric said annoyed and they laughed.

"Where do you live in New York?" Caroline asked curiously.

"The Upper East Side." Ric shrugged.

"What's your place like?" Caroline asked.

"It's a four bedroom two floor penthouse." Ric said.

"That sounds nice." Caroline grinned.

"It's alright but I want to move." Damon said.

"Why?" Elena asked.

"He hates the door guy." Ric laughed and Damon rolled his eyes. Everyone laughed at that because only Damon would move because of that.

"He's really annoying, Ric." Damon pointed out.

"Yeah but we can't just move because of the door guy." Ric said amused and they laughed.

"Why don't you just compel him to stop doing whatever he does to annoy you?" Caroline asked and Ric laughed.

"Damon can't compel anymore." Ric smirked and everyone's jaws dropped.

"Can so." Damon said annoyed.

"He has a bet going with Zoe that he can't last six months without using compulsion." Ric said amused.

"But how can you feed if you can't use compulsion?" Caroline asked confused.

"Zoe never said I couldn't take Ric with me and get him to compel them." Damon smirked and they laughed.

"That and he bites Zoe whenever he sees her." Ric said with a chuckle.

"She doesn't mind?" Caroline asked surprised and Damon chuckled.

"No, she thinks it's hot." Damon smirked.

"How long have you lasted?" Stefan asked with a smile and Damon looked at the time on his phone.

"Three months, two weeks, five days and sixteen hours." Damon said and everyone laughed loudly that he was counting it down. "It's so hard. I can live without compelling everything but Mandy and Ric refuses to come in and do it for me. I can't live without compelling Mandy." Damon muttered and they laughed.

"What do you win if you complete the six months?" Stefan asked and Ric laughed loudly.

"When they were together they won this radio competition for a signed Rolling Stones collector's plaque thing and Zoe hid it when they broke up so Damon couldn't get it but if he goes six months without compulsion she'll hand it over." Ric said and everyone laughed loudly.

"What? It's really cool." Damon said with a shrug.

"And if he doesn't?" Stefan asked amused.

"If he doesn't, he has to go on the radio and say on the air that Zoe won the bet and he'll never try and get the plaque again." Ric said amused and they laughed.

"I'm not going to lose." Damon said. "I've put up with compulsion free Mandy for over three months for this fucking thing. No way am I losing now." Damon smirked and they laughed.

"Damon, what's the big deal about the plaque? You went on tour with the Stones in the seventies." Stefan said and Damon chuckled.

"It's the principal of the thing." Damon said and everyone laughed.

"They have bets all the time for stupid things like this. Damon lost a bet to her a few months ago and had to shave off all his hair." Ric laughed and everyone's jaws dropped.

"That was really weird." Damon said amused.

"Were you like bald?" Jeremy asked shocked and Damon laughed.

"No, but it was like an army buzz cut." Damon chuckled.

"He looked so weird like that." Ric said.

"I can't even imagine that." Stefan agreed.

"Zoe's a crazy bitch." Damon grinned. "She always makes her bet things ridiculous. One time, I had like neon pink hair for a week." Damon said amused and everyone laughed in disbelief that Damon would _do _that.

"That was hilarious." Ric laughed. "I forgot about that."

"What other stupid things have you done from losing bets?" Jeremy asked and they glanced at each other and laughed.

"We had to get each other's names tattooed in hearts." Ric said amused and everyone laughed.

"Let's see." Elena giggled. They both stood up and turned around so their backs were facing everyone then they unbuttoned their shirts and showed off their shoulders. They both had a red love heart on their right shoulders. Damon had 'Alaric' and Ric had 'Damon' in the middle of them. Everyone laughed then the two of them fixed their shirts and sat back down.

"That's hilarious." Stefan laughed.

"Ric had to get his eyebrow pierced once too." Damon laughed.

"We really have to stop drinking so much." Ric said amused.

"It sounds like you're having fun though." Bonnie smiled.

"We are." Damon smirked. "New York is amazing."

"It's a shame we'll have to leave one day." Ric said.

"Dude, I completely forgot to tell you. Daria told me that she heard about this vampire makeup artist that can make us look older." Damon said and Ric looked surprised.

"Seriously?" Ric asked with a grin and Damon nodded.

"Yeah. She's come up with all this stuff that you can put on your face that makes it look like you're aging." Damon grinned.

"So we can stay in New York longer?" Ric asked happily and Damon nodded.

"Yeah, probably for another 10 years if we can get in touch with this vampire." Damon said.

"That's awesome." Ric smiled. "Actually, let's go to the Grill for a drink." Ric said and Damon rolled his eyes.

"Why?" Damon asked.

"For old time's sake." Ric chuckled.

"You can do things without me, you know." Damon pointed out and everyone laughed.

"Shut up and check your phone." Ric said and Damon sighed. He pulled out his blackberry and had a quick look through his memos.

"Fine, but I have to be back to make a skype call in three hours." Damon said to Ric in warning.

"Fine." Ric smirked. "We'll see you guys later." Ric waved then the two of them said bye and left the house.

"I kind of feel like I'm in an alternate reality." Elena said and everyone laughed.

"Damon is so majorly different." Caroline said in shock.

"I haven't seen my brother laugh that much since we were human." Stefan agreed. "Maybe not even then."

"Was it just me or is Damon even hotter than before?" Caroline asked and the girls laughed.

"I have to agree with you there." Bonnie nodded.

"Hey." Tyler said to Bonnie annoyed and she rolled her eyes at her jealous boyfriend.

"I can't believe Damon hasn't killed anyone since he was here. That must mean Klaus' witch was the last person." Jeremy said.

"I can't believe a lot of what we just witnessed." Elena countered.

"I can't believe Damon was engaged." Jeremy said and they all nodded in agreement.

"I can't believe he's taking me to fashion week." Caroline grinned and they laughed.

"That was nice." Bonnie agreed.

"Ric's turning story was hilarious though." Tyler said amused and they laughed.

"Since Caroline's allowed to visit, think we all can?" Jeremy asked Stefan who shrugged.

"Guess you'll have to ask them." Stefan said. "I'm going to ask that too."

"Are you going to ask Damon to be your best man?" Elena asked Stefan curiously and he smiled.

"I was worried that the long absence would make things worse again but it seems to have had the opposite effect. I'm definitely asking him." Stefan smiled.


	4. Chapter 4

I don't own The Vampire Diaries, I'm just a fan :)

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><p>The Difference<p>

Chapter 4

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><p>Stefan came downstairs the following morning to find Damon sitting in the living room with a cup of coffee typing away on his laptop with a stack of papers next to him. The runner had dropped off the papers already, he signed them then the runner left again.<p>

"Morning." Damon smiled at him.

"Morning." Stefan replied.

"I just made coffee like five minutes ago if you want some." Damon said absently as he typed and Stefan was a little surprised at his comment.

"Thanks." Stefan said then hurried into the kitchen and came back a few minutes later with a cup of coffee for himself and he sat down across from Damon. "What are you doing?" Stefan asked curiously.

"Just going over profit figures for the last three months to assess where we need to make some changes." Damon shrugged. He typed a few keys then closed the laptop and looked at his brother. "How are you doing, Stefan?" Damon asked. "It's been a while."

"Not as well as you are, it seems." Stefan smirked and Damon chuckled.

"You would love New York, Stefan." Damon said honestly.

"Would you mind if I came to visit you some time?" Stefan asked and Damon shook his head.

"No, not at all. You're welcome any time if you want to stay with us." Damon shrugged. "What have you been doing for the last three years?" Damon asked.

"Ric didn't tell you?" Stefan asked surprised.

"All he said was that you went to college and you were still living here." Damon shrugged.

"I'm still at college doing nautical engineering." Stefan nodded.

"That's cool." Damon smiled. "You like it?" Damon asked curiously and Stefan smiled.

"Yeah, it's great." He nodded.

"Are you still on Bambi blood?" Damon asked but not in a mocking way.

"I'm still building up tolerance for human blood but now I'm on about 50% human, 50% animal." Stefan said and Damon nodded.

"That's good. Is it getting easier?" Damon asked.

"Yeah, it's much easier now." Stefan smiled. "I still haven't tried fresh feeding yet but I'll get there eventually." He nodded.

"I can help you with that, if you want." Damon suggested. "After my compulsion ban is finished, I'll help you." Damon said and Stefan grinned.

"That'd be great, Damon." Stefan said. "Why didn't you tell me you got engaged?" Stefan asked and Damon sighed.

"I would have if we actually started to talk about a wedding or anything but we both agreed to a long engagement so there was no point in having a party or telling people until we decided on a date for the wedding." Damon said.

"Why didn't you want contact with me?" Stefan blurted and Damon sighed again.

"It's not that I didn't want contact with you, Stefan. I was just having a hard time accepting emotion back into my life after so long without it. I caused so many problems here. I just thought you'd be better off without me. Then after I came to terms with everything... I didn't know how to get in touch. I didn't want to bother you." Damon said honestly. Stefan noticed that Damon seemed like he was when he was human now. He was almost a little shy. The previous night, he'd obviously smoked a little weed with Alaric for courage but now in sobriety, he felt awkward. Stefan was stunned at everything Damon said.

"Damon, you're my big brother and I love you. I will always want contact with you. No matter what. I wish I'd known what you were going through. I would have tried to help. I remember what it was like to turn it back on after doing so many bad things." Stefan said honestly.

"I also wanted to stay away from Elena." Damon confessed. "These three years have put a lot of things in perspective and I've had a lot of realisations about all of that and honestly, I didn't want to come back here and see her again."

"Why?" Stefan asked surprised.

"Because I genuinely want nothing to do with her." Damon said honestly and Stefan's jaw dropped. "I will always want contact with you too, Stefan, but I don't want contact with Elena if possible. That's another reason I came here with Ric. I wanted to tell you that I love you, Stefan. I always have and always will." Damon said. "But I won't be at your wedding." He said and Stefan gasped.

"But I want you to be my best man." Stefan said and Damon looked surprised.

"I am honoured that you would want that, but I have to decline. I can't stand up with you on the day of your wedding and support your choice to marry her. I'm going back to New York today. Zoe's coming to pick me up. Alaric will stay until Tuesday or Wednesday." Damon said.

"Damon, please tell me why." Stefan said and Damon sighed.

"Honestly, my brother, I think you deserve so much better." Damon said sincerely and Stefan's eyes bugged. "I left Mystic Falls to be free of her." Damon said and Stefan looked shocked. "I thought a lot about my time here and I realised that Elena manipulated and used me a lot and she strung me along repeatedly. I might have done plenty of terrible things but I did everything I could to protect her. I risked my life for her over and over again whereas she just used my feelings for her to her advantage. She is Katherine, just without 500 years of being a vampire. She might actually be worse than Katherine in the manipulation department because she thinks she's above that. I will never support your decision to marry Elena because you deserve someone special. I know now what real love is. I know how it's supposed to feel and I realised that I transferred my feelings for Katherine over to her. I was never in love with Elena. I'll never ask you to choose me over Elena because regardless who you're with, I'll always be there for you, but I can't be at your wedding and watch you marry someone who will one day break your heart. I can't." Damon shook his head. "This might make things awkward for you so if you want, just say that I can't come because I have work commitments that I can't get out of or something. I'm sorry, Stefan." Damon said sincerely. Just then there was a knock at the door and Damon got up to open it before Stefan could formulate a reply. Stefan watched as Damon pounced on the girl standing there and spun her around in his arms and both had matching grins on their faces. He presumed it was Zoe. Stefan was kind of surprised to see what Zoe looked like. She had bright purple hair, a nose ring, heavily tattooed arms and chest and dark eye makeup. She was stunningly beautiful though and had a kind smile. Stefan could see how much she cared about Damon and he saw how much his brother cared about her.

"You look terrible, sweetie." She said to Damon who chuckled.

"That's just what happens in this town." Damon smirked and she took his hand and interlaced their fingers.

"We'll get you home today, sweetie." She said softly and he smiled.

"Why do you have to go to Tokyo? What the hell am I going to do without you?" Damon asked and she smiled widely.

"It's only a year... then we'll have eternity." She grinned and he chuckled. "Besides, I'll be back for fashion week in New York and in Milan in the spring and you'll come to Tokyo. You won't have time to miss me." She teased and he laughed.

"Yeah right. I'll just be stuck with Ric." Damon chuckled.

"Damon... Do you want me to turn it down?" She asked him softly as she stared into his eyes.

"No, I'm just being a grumpy git. I'll come visit you when I want to kill Mandy." Damon said and she laughed.

"So you'll be there all the time?" She smiled and he chuckled.

"Yeah, basically." Damon smirked and she laughed. "Anyway, this is Stefan." Damon motioned and she smiled then stepped forward and stuck her hand out.

"Hi, Stefan! I'm Zoe. I've been so looking forward to meeting you." She grinned. Stefan looked surprised then shook her hand.

"I've heard a lot about you from Ric and Damon. It's nice to meet you." Stefan smiled. Just then Ric came down the stairs and smiled.

"I thought I heard your squeaky voice." Ric said amused and Zoe laughed then ran over to him excitedly.

"You smell like a brewery." She laughed as she hugged him tightly. "As always." She said and he chuckled.

"We went out to the Grill last night." Ric shrugged and she giggled.

"Aww, you two are too cute. Being all sentimental by going to the Grill." She teased and they both rolled their eyes at her. "What? Your friendship started there when you punched Damon." She said to Ric and they both laughed at the memory.

"We _were_ badass that day though." Damon smirked and Ric chuckled.

"I totally saved your life that day." Ric said to Damon amused and he laughed.

"I would have managed without you just fine." Damon countered.

"Yeah, right." Ric said and Damon laughed. Then Caroline came downstairs.

"Are you Caroline?" Zoe asked with a huge grin. Caroline looked a little surprised. She'd been living at the boarding house since Stefan was gone with Klaus.

"Yeah." Caroline nodded with a smile.

"Hi, I'm Zoe. Damon and Ric have such wonderful things to say about you, I feel like I know you already." Zoe grinned as she stuck out her hand. Caroline grinned back and shook her hand.

"Damon has nice things to say about me? Are you sure?" Caroline asked sceptically and Zoe giggled while Damon rolled his eyes.

"Absolutely." Zoe nodded with a smile.

"Are you the Zoe going to Tokyo?" Caroline asked curiously and she giggled.

"Yeah, that's me." She smiled.

"We need to get going soon, Zo." Damon said to her.

"Where are you going?" Caroline asked surprised.

"Work emergency. I have to go back to New York so Zoe came to pick me up." Damon shrugged and she looked surprised. Stefan's jaw dropped that Damon was lying about his reason for leaving.

"You're leaving already?" She asked shocked and Damon nodded.

"I have to. Stupid Mandy." Damon smirked and she laughed. "Are you definitely going to come for fashion week next month?" Damon asked her curiously and she beamed at him.

"I wouldn't miss it." She said.

"Cool." Damon nodded then reached into his pocket. "Type in your number and I'll call you about the details." Damon said handing over his phone to her. She took the phone and saved her number then handed it back to him. She noticed that it was his 'friends' phone that he wanted the number for and that made her happy. Damon's work phone rang then and he sighed loudly.

"Oh, God. That's Mandy, isn't it?" Zoe said annoyed and he nodded then answered his phone.

"What have you done now?" Damon asked when he answered. "Why?" Damon asked shocked. "Mandy I'm coming back to New York today. Don't be in the office when I get back or I'm throwing you out the window." Damon said then hung up. "I can't fucking believe it." Damon shook his head.

"What did the idiot do this time?" Zoe asked annoyed.

"Marla quit." Damon said and her jaw dropped. "Six weeks before fashion week. Marla quit." Damon ran his hand through his hair as he started to pace. "Zoe, you need to find me a new fashion coordinator. Fuck. I'll kill her. I'll kill her this time." Damon said angrily.

"Sweetie, calm down." Zoe said as she took his hand. "Why did Marla quit?" She asked.

"Because Mandy fucked up her salary _again_ and she didn't get paid. She's going on vacation tomorrow and needed the money." Damon said. "That was the last straw and she took a job at Bergdorf's where there is no fucking Mandy!" Damon yelled annoyed.

"Damon, it's fine. I'll find you another fashion coordinator. It's only basic knowledge of designers that's needed." She said.

"What about Caroline?" Ric suggested curiously. Damon looked over at Caroline who was staring at him innocently. He looked at her for a second as he contemplated that then turned to Zoe.

"Do you have time to do the training before you go to Tokyo?" Damon asked Zoe seriously.

"Yeah, of course. It's easy." She nodded.

"Think you'd want to?" Damon asked Caroline curiously and she looked stunned.

"Be a fashion coordinator for Saks Fifth Avenue? Uh, yeah!" She said and Damon and Zoe laughed.

"You would need to come with us like today." Damon said to her seriously.

"What about the party?" Stefan asked and Damon nodded.

"Tomorrow then?" Damon asked her and she grinned.

"I'll drive up. Where would I live though?" She asked.

"You can stay with us." Ric said to her and she smiled.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yeah, it's fine." Damon nodded. "We have private parking spaces too for your car." Damon said and she smiled.

"I'll get your training started on Monday morning." Zoe smiled. "Normally, the training would be for a month but since you're a vampire you don't need to study. It'll be tough but if you work hard, I think you'll be completely ready to start work by the time I leave." Zoe said confidently.

"Zoe, you need to give me a free pass for compulsion to get Caroline in the job." Damon said to her seriously. She could see that he was stressed out about it and she didn't want to make it harder on him.

"Fine, but only to do with Caroline and the job. Still no Mandy, the door guy or anyone else." She smirked at him and he chuckled.

"Scout's honour." He held up two fingers mockingly and she laughed. "Caroline, come for a walk with me, will you?" He motioned to the door and she looked surprised then nodded and the two of them left the house.

"Where are they going?" Stefan asked curiously.

"Damon doesn't like to talk money in front of anyone. He'll be telling her about the pay and the job." Zoe said with a shrug.

* * *

><p>"So what's up?" Caroline asked once they were down the drive way.<p>

"I just wanted to give you the details so that there aren't any surprises once you get there." Damon said and she smiled and nodded. "Normally, the job involves coordinating themes, new styles, promotions and displays in store and on the website. There will be other times that you'll be required to do so for outside events as we sponsor a lot of different fashion related events throughout the year. But obviously fashion week is the biggie for us. You are going to be stressed out of your mind until the day fashion week is over. I won't lie to you about it. It's hard, you'll work a lot of hours but the perks of the job are great, the people are usually fun, except Mandy obviously, and you'll meet a lot of important people in the fashion world. For fashion week, you'll liaise with the designer representatives and give your opinions on what should represent Saks at fashion week. Fashion week is advertising for us so it has to be done in such a way that brings in more business for us. Zoe will teach you all that so you don't have to worry about it right now. Part of the job is also doing research on trends and just like any other fashion forward company, we want to be number one on style. What do you think so far?" Damon asked her and she smiled.

"I work better under stress. Honestly, it sounds amazing." She said and Damon grinned.

"Excellent. Well, starting salary is $65000 for your first year not including bonuses. After your first year, your salary will increase by 15% each year. If you do your job and do it well, Saks are great about promotions. On top of your salary, you're given a company credit card for expenses as well as $7500 per quarter of in store credit so that you keep yourself in style. Your personal store discount starts at 25% and that goes up depending on how you do your job but you can use my discount anyway. You'll also get loads of designer freebies and access to the company jets for one private vacation per year. You get six weeks vacation time per year but nobody usually takes it all since you get paid double if you work it." Damon smirked. "What else?" He asked as he thought about it. Caroline was staring at him in disbelief. "Oh, Saks has a kind of rewards programme among the staff. If you go above and beyond your job description or do something that they're really happy with you earn points. The points can be used towards lots of different things ranging from cash bonuses to things in store to extra vacation time to flights and all sorts of things. Like I said before, it's a hard job but you're well rewarded if you work hard." Damon said. "You'll be given a company phone and a driver service will always be available to you. I've probably forgotten something but that's all the main stuff. I know I yell at Mandy a lot but I'm not actually a bad boss." Damon smirked. "She's really the only person I ever yell at." He said in the hopes it would reassure her. "So what do you think?" He asked her and she smiled.

"I think I love you, Damon Salvatore." She said and he chuckled. He was glad the job sounded good to her.

"Does that salary work for you?" He asked. "It's usually experience based but since I don't have time for you to be a junior fashion coordinator, you're being thrown into the full job." He said.

"Damon, everything you said sounds amazing. I can't thank you enough for this." She said.

"You were probably born for this job. I'm glad Ric mentioned it." He said amused.

"So you're my boss?" She asked and he chuckled.

"Uh... I'm your boss's boss's boss." He said and she giggled.

"You're like the head honcho there aren't you?" She asked amused and he chuckled.

"More or less. I only have the board to answer to." Damon shrugged.

"Am I going to have to call you Mr Salvatore in work?" She asked and he laughed.

"No. Never." He shook his head. "I don't like all that crap at work. When you spend so much time with your colleagues, it's so impersonal to be like that. Everyone there calls me by my first name right down to the perfume sprayers." He said amused.

"Will I ever be working with you?" She asked curiously and he nodded.

"Yeah, anything major you want to do, you have to run by me." He shrugged. "But as much as it's Saks Fifth Avenue, it's not a stuffy place to work. There's a lot of give and take like you can wander into my office whenever you want. The only person in the whole building that is not allowed in my office under any circumstances is Mandy." He said and she laughed. "Also, you won't have set office hours so if you need like a morning off or whatever, you just don't come in until you're ready. As long as the work gets done, I don't really care when you come in or leave. The only things that I have to really enforce are that you look a certain way when you come to work and you don't ever miss meetings. You'll be out in the store a lot and people will look at you as one of the faces of Saks. I don't think you'll have a problem with that, but you will come to work every day, dressed head to toe in Saks designers. That's non-negotiable." Damon said and she grinned.

"That sounds kind of like heaven actually. I'll have to seriously shop when I get there then. I do have a lot of designer stuff but if you're serious about head to toe, I'll need to shop." She said and Damon nodded.

"I'll give you access to my company account when you get there and just get yourself everything you need. Zoe's going to meetings with Valentino and YSL tomorrow so if you give her your sizes, she'll pick you up some freebies." Damon said.

"Wow. This is surreal." She said honestly and he smiled.

"I think it'll be fun having you in New York." Damon said. "Any meetings you set, you have to go to. That's the only time I get seriously pissed. If you miss or are late for a meeting, I'll be pissed. If there's an emergency or something and you can't make it you have to call someone to go to the meeting for you. Other than that and how you dress, I'm relaxed about everything else. And there's a staff closet in the office that you can borrow clothes from whenever you want to." Damon said as he remembered that.

"Can I hug you now?" She asked with a grin and he laughed then hugged her and she hugged him back tightly.

"Do you have any questions?" Damon asked her curiously after he let go.

"Will I ever have to travel?" She asked.

"Not regularly as mostly your job will be in store but maybe a couple of times a year." He nodded. "It depends if Saks are showcasing in Milan, Paris, London and Tokyo." He shrugged. "Sometimes there are other places but those are the main ones Saks are involved with." He said.

"You love your job, don't you?" She asked softly with a small smile.

"I love my job." Damon nodded. "It actually depresses the hell out of me that I might only be able to do it for another ten years." Damon said. "Away from work, you can stay with Ric and me. Zoe lived with us for a while so you might want to take that room since the decorating is quite feminine. You can change whatever you want though." He said and she smiled.

"Why did Zoe move out?" She asked curiously.

"She moved in with her boyfriend." Damon shrugged and Caroline nodded. "As far as a social life goes, we'll introduce you to our friends and if you like them, you're more than welcome to socialize with us anytime you want to. I think you'll really get along well with Zoe and Daria actually." Damon said.

"Zoe seems great and I'm looking forward to meeting your friends." She smiled. "Do you and Ric have any household rules?" She asked.

"They're kind of obvious ones to be honest. If something bothers us about the other, we're honest about it. When you live with someone, you see their annoying habits really quickly. For example, it used to drive me nuts that Alaric took his socks off and left them on the coffee table so I said something about it; do you know what I mean?" He asked and she giggled and nodded. "Neither of us wants the place destroyed so there're no parties in the house. Friends over, yes, but not like huge parties. If either of us wanted a huge party, Ric has a nightclub so we'd have it there. Then obviously, there's no killing in the house, not that you would, I'm just saying. Also, Ric is _really_ annoying to live with so if he does something that pisses you off just tell him." Damon smirked and she laughed. "I'm used to him now but don't ever be worried about saying something to either of us, okay?" He asked and she smiled.

"I'm actually so looking forward to this now." She said.

"Good. It should be fun." Damon smiled.

"What about people from here visiting?" She asked cautiously.

"Once you live there, it's your home too so if you want to invite friends over that's fine." Damon nodded.

"Even Tyler?" She asked raising an eyebrow and Damon chuckled.

"Yeah, even Tyler." He nodded. "Just not on the full moon. Been there, done that." He winked and she laughed.

"He's not affected by the full moon anymore. Bonnie managed to make a ring for him on the same principal as ours so that he's not bound by the curse. He never changes at all anymore." Caroline smiled and Damon looked surprised.

"That must be quite a relief for him." Damon said and she nodded.

"Yeah, he's really happy now. They'll be the next ones down the aisle." Caroline giggled.

"Who?" Damon asked confused.

"Bonnie and Tyler." Caroline replied and Damon looked surprised.

"I didn't even know they were together." Damon said.

"Yeah, for the last two years." Caroline nodded.

"That's kind of a strange pairing. I didn't see that coming." Damon smirked and she laughed.

"Nobody saw it coming. Not even them." She said amused.


	5. Chapter 5

I don't own The Vampire Diaries, I'm just a fan :)

**A/N: I was planning to wait and post this tomorrow but this is for spiritedghost: Murray, you know I love you. :)**

* * *

><p>The Difference<p>

Chapter 5

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, Damon and Caroline walked back into the house to find Stefan talking to Zoe and Alaric.<p>

"So?" Zoe asked them with a huge smile.

"She accepted." Damon nodded and Zoe grinned.

"That's awesome. You'll love it, Caroline." She said.

"I kind of feel like I died and went to heaven." Caroline said and Damon laughed.

"You won't in a couple of weeks when you're working all the time." Damon smirked and she grinned.

"Yeah, I still will." She grinned.

"Zo, will you pick up some freebies for Caroline tomorrow?" Damon asked her.

"Of course." Zoe nodded. "Just write down your sizes." She said and Caroline smiled.

"Thank you so much." She said sincerely.

"Actually, if you're in New York early enough I'll take you with me to the YSL meeting. It's tomorrow night at six." Zoe said. "Then you can get a little introduction with the YSL reps."

"I'll be there." Caroline grinned. "I might just start driving up tonight after the party." She said.

"It'll take about six or seven hours to drive there. Unless you drive like Damon then it'll be four or five." She smirked and they laughed.

"I can't drive like that anymore." Damon pointed out.

"Why not?" Zoe asked confused.

"Because I can't compel cops now." Damon smirked and she sighed.

"So we're seriously going to have to drive for seven hours?" Zoe complained and Damon chuckled.

"Unless you feel like lifting your ban for your own benefit." Damon smirked at her and she laughed.

"Yeah, just for today." She said and Damon laughed.

"You totally miss me compelling everything for you, don't you?" Damon asked amused.

"I totally do." She sighed. "This is a really stupid bet. You're so stubborn, you're totally going to win." She muttered and he chuckled.

"You know it." Damon winked. "You screwed yourself with this bet too... don't you remember what life was like when you totally used me as your personal compulsion whore?" He asked amused.

"Fine. I'll give you the damn plaque." She said and Damon grinned.

"Backing out of a bet, Zoe? I'm surprised at you." He smirked.

"I'll make you a deal. If you let me do a tattoo on you, I'll give you the plaque and tell everyone you won." She said and Damon thought about it. He knew she was still learning and needed to practice.

"It depends on the tattoo and where. I don't want another Alaric tattoo." He said and they laughed.

"I don't really care where it is so you can decide that. But I've been practicing drawing pin up girls and I really want to do one." She said.

"If you call up the radio station and say I won on the air, I'll agree." Damon said amused and she scowled at him.

"Fine, jackass, you have yourself a deal." She said and they shook hands.

"Yes! I can compel Mandy!" Damon grinned and everyone laughed at the fact it was the first thing he thought of.

"I thought you were going to fire her?" Stefan asked amused.

"I will. Soon." Damon nodded and they laughed. "This means I can compel that stupid door guy too." Damon grinned. "God, I've missed compulsion!" He exclaimed happily and everyone laughed at his delighted expression. "I'm just going to compel _everyone_ today." He said amused.

"I actually have a list for you so you can get started on that." Zoe said amused.

"Like what?" Damon asked with a laugh.

"Our landlady won't hold our apartment for us even though we said we'd pay the rent for the year in Tokyo." She said and Damon rolled his eyes with a smile.

"So you want it to be held for you and Keith." Damon said amused and she laughed.

"Yup." She said.

"Fine." Damon chuckled. "What else?"

"Keith's boss won't guarantee his job in the tattoo studio for when we come back." She said and Damon laughed.

"Fine, I'll take care of it." Damon smirked. "What else?"

"I want Leslie to release next season's Manolo's to me." She grinned.

"No, not until they've been showcased at fashion week." Damon shook his head.

"I won't wear them until after that." Zoe promised.

"I'll have Leslie put a pair aside for you so you can pick them up when you come back at the end of fashion week." Damon said and she sighed.

"You're such a jobsworth." She rolled her eyes and he laughed.

"No, I'm not." Damon said affronted.

"Are too." She replied.

"Fine, I'll make you a deal." Damon smirked. "You let me compel you to not wear them until after fashion week, I'll get you them today when we go back." Damon said amused and she cocked an eyebrow at him.

"I can still wear them in the house to break them in." She negotiated and he chuckled.

"Deal." He agreed and she laughed and shook his hand again.

"Do you know about vervain?" Stefan asked her curiously and she giggled.

"Yeah, Damon told me about it and gave me some when we first met." She nodded.

"How did you meet?" Stefan asked curiously and they laughed.

"I met Zoe on our first night in New York. Ric was pissing me off so I went to this tiny little hole in the wall bar and she stole my drink." Damon said amused.

"Then he hit out with a line something like, 'You know, I would have bought you a drink' while doing the eyebrow thing he does." Zoe giggled and they laughed.

"Mock me as much as you want, Zo. I still had you on your back that night." Damon smirked and they laughed.

"After over a century of practice at seduction, it's understandable." Zoe said amused. "Damon was the first guy ever to get a one night stand out of me." She said with a giggle.

"And you were the first girl ever to get me to commit." Damon smirked and they laughed.

"Damn right." She grinned. "I miss you in your leather jacket though. You looked hot like that." She said and Damon sighed.

"Yeah, well, blame the twit for that one." Damon muttered and Stefan, Caroline and Ric laughed.

"You could just get another jacket made. You could draw it and get someone to make it for you." She said and he shrugged.

"That jacket was given to me by Keith Richards. It wasn't the style of it I liked." Damon said.

"You lucky asshole!" Zoe exclaimed and they laughed. "He gave you that?" She asked in disbelief.

"Yeah." Damon nodded with a grin.

"Now _I_ want to kill Mandy." Zoe said and they laughed.

"Yeah, you should probably avoid her after you turn. You'll be unable to control yourself." Damon smirked and her jaw dropped.

"Damon, you can't seriously let her work for you for another year!" She said.

"Oh, right. Obviously. No, I'll fire her." Damon nodded and they laughed. "I will. Soon." He said and they laughed.

"That's it. You're obviously never going to do it." Zoe shook her head. "You have until the end of fashion week to fire Mandy or I'll tell the board how crap she is." Zoe warned and Damon sighed.

"You know I can't, Zoe." Damon said sincerely.

"I thought you had a plan for when you fired her? So she wouldn't have to go back to that town?" Zoe asked.

"Fine, I'll get that taken care of then I'll fire her next week." Damon rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Zo. We need to get going." Damon said checking the time. It was just after 10am.

"Did you drive here all night?" Stefan asked Zoe shocked and she nodded.

"Yeah, I started driving at like 3am." She laughed.

"You can sleep on the way back." Damon said to her sincerely. "Caroline, I'll text you the address. Just call me when you get there and I'll get up." Damon said and she smiled.

"I will." She grinned.

* * *

><p>Zoe followed Damon up to his room while he got his things together. He emptied his room of everything he'd left behind last time as he wasn't sure he'd ever come back to the boarding house again. Alaric knew before they left New York that Zoe was coming to pick Damon up on the Saturday morning. They'd planned that. Damon carried his things down to Zoe's car and packed them in then he went back in to say bye to Ric and Stefan.<p>

"Call me if you're ever in New York." Damon said to Stefan. Stefan's face showed his confusion and sadness over Damon's decision not to attend his wedding but he saw that Damon clearly didn't want Caroline to know about it so he didn't say anything.

"I will." Stefan nodded then the two of them hugged.

"See you in a few days." Ric said to Damon then they hugged too.

"Try and behave yourself. Remember this is Mystic Falls." Damon said to Alaric amused and he laughed.

"I always behave." He smiled mischievously.

"Yeah, right." Zoe grinned at him then hugged him. "Caroline, we'll see you tomorrow." She smiled widely.

"Definitely." She grinned.

"Adios." Damon saluted them with a smirk then slung his arm over Zoe's shoulders and the two of them started to walk out of the house just as Elena walked in. Damon sighed involuntarily as he'd been hoping to avoid seeing her. "Later, Elena." Damon said then he and Zoe walked past her out the door and she looked confused. Caroline was kind of stunned as Zoe had completely ignored Elena yet she'd been so nice to her and Stefan.

"Who was that?" Elena asked Stefan.

"That was Zoe." Stefan said and Elena's eyes widened. She was kind of stunned at how Zoe looked.

"As in Damon's best friend Zoe?" She asked them and the three of them nodded. "What's she doing here?" She asked surprised.

"She came to pick Damon up to take him back to New York." Caroline said and Elena's jaw dropped.

"He's leaving already?" Elena asked shocked and Stefan noticed that she looked really dismayed by that.

"Work emergency." Ric nodded. Stefan noticed that Ric was clearly lying too. Ric obviously knew Damon's real reason.

"Well is he coming back after that?" She asked concerned and Stefan narrowed his eyes at her.

"No, I don't think so." Stefan said to her seriously.

"Did you ask him to be your best man?" She asked Stefan and he nodded.

"He turned me down." Stefan said and both Caroline and Elena's jaws dropped.

"Why?" Caroline asked confused.

"He can't guarantee that he'll be at the wedding because of work." Stefan lied. Damon told him to say that after all.

"What? He might not even come?" Elena asked shocked.

"He has commitments booked up to a year in advance." Ric explained. "Sometimes he can't compel his way out of them."

"But isn't his brother's wedding more important than his job?" Elena asked confused.

"Don't take this the wrong way, Elena." Ric said seriously. "His job makes him happy. Mystic Falls doesn't. He'll pick his job over almost anything." Ric said and she blinked in surprise. Stefan knew what Ric was really saying. Stefan could see that Ric did not like Elena one bit. "Anyway, I'm going to head into town and grab breakfast." Ric said as he pulled on his jacket.

"I'll come with you." Stefan said and Ric cocked an eyebrow at him. Ric gathered Stefan wanted to talk about Damon.

"Alright." Ric said.

* * *

><p>Ric and Stefan left the house and sped into the woods for a couple of miles when Ric stopped. Stefan then stopped and turned to look at him.<p>

"So Damon didn't have contact with me for three years because of Elena?" Stefan asked Ric cautiously and Ric blinked in surprise.

"He told you about the kiss?" Ric asked shocked and Stefan looked confused.

"What kiss?" Stefan asked confused and Ric slapped his hand to his forehead.

"Never mind. Forget I said that." Ric said.

"Please, Ric. I can't lose my brother again. Please just tell me." Stefan pleaded.

"Damon's going to be so pissed at me." Ric shook his head. "The night you traded yourself for the cure, Elena took care of Damon when he was dying. She told him that she liked him and she kissed him." Ric said and Stefan's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"What?" Stefan asked shocked.

"Damon didn't want to come back here because of her. He was having a hard enough time coming back from nearly 150 years of darkness, so he really didn't need her using his feelings against him all the time. She manipulated him and used him when it suited her. You have no idea what those months after we left here were like for him. He thought she was the first person to care about him since he was human and she didn't. She didn't give a rat's ass about Damon. She played Damon like a fiddle until that night. The second Katherine brought him the cure and he was fine, she basically told him it was a pity kiss then started the games again. After the masquerade party, Damon realised that he wanted you in his life again. He wanted to be friends with you again so he stopped pursuing Elena. She seemed to notice that though because she went out of her way to try to get him to continue pursuing her." Alaric said and Stefan looked like he was going to cry. "Damon feels so humiliated by how she treated him that he can't be around her. The only reason I'm here is to support you because Damon can't. I love Damon. He's my best friend in the world who I would do anything for. So if you're hell bent on marrying Elena, I'll go to the wedding and be there to support you for him. But in my opinion, if you marry her, you're a fucking idiot." Alaric said and Stefan was stunned speechless. "Damon doesn't mind if you want to visit us. He doesn't even care if you bring Elena. I do. I don't want her in the apartment. So if you visit us, come alone." Alaric said.

"Why didn't Elena tell me about the night he was dying?" Stefan asked shocked.

"Why would she?" Alaric shrugged. "It's not like Damon kissed her back. She kissed him. Not vice versa."

"Why didn't Damon tell me?" Stefan asked confused and Alaric stared him straight in the eyes.

"Damon has changed a lot in the last three years. He's a genuinely good guy. He doesn't kill, his emotions are completely on and honestly, he's awesome. But when it comes to you, he'll be insecure forever. He would never tell you that because he thinks you would never believe him. He couldn't handle you not believing him. He couldn't handle you choosing someone else over him because you're all he's ever had his whole life so he won't put himself in that position. Damon nearly met the sun after we left Mystic Falls because he was pretty sure he couldn't ever see you again." Ric said and Stefan's eyes welled with tears. "I had to vervain him and tie him up and make him swear to me he'd never do that. Zoe was heaven sent for Damon, I'm sure of it. Damon might be cocky about his looks and all the rest of it, but deep down, he didn't believe that he deserved to be loved. Zoe changed that. Zoe showed him what real love was. If Damon asked her to, she wouldn't go to Tokyo." Ric explained. "But something you should know, Stefan... Katherine hurt Damon. Elena broke Damon. How you could ever marry the woman that broke your brother, I'll never understand. You should know this though, Stefan... Zoe and I will make sure that nobody hurts Damon ever again. Regardless who they are." Ric warned then sped away. Stefan slumped to the ground and cried his eyes out. He'd had no idea about any of it. He wished he'd known sooner. He wished he hadn't made Damon feel like he couldn't tell him that. He wished he'd never asked Elena to marry him.

* * *

><p>Damon drove Zoe's car with her in the passenger seat and once they were past the Mystic Falls sign, Damon sighed in relief.<p>

"Zoe... thanks for coming to get me." Damon said to her sincerely and she smiled.

"I'll always do anything for you, sweetie." She said softly.

"You know I feel the same, right?" He asked her and she nodded. "Do you have any idea how much I just love you?" Damon smirked at her and she grinned and took his hand. He interlaced their fingers.

"Yeah, I do. I love you too." She smiled. "I'm so glad you didn't introduce me to that bitch. I would have slapped her senseless." Zoe said and Damon chuckled.

"You are far too protective of me, Zo. I'm an ancient murderous vampire. I can protect myself." He smirked at her and she smiled.

"I'm protective of you because you're my best friend. Physically, you can protect yourself. Emotionally, you have me and Ric to do it for you and you always will. For all of eternity, Ric and I will have your back no matter what." She said. Damon squeezed her hand softly as she meant so much to him.

"Are you sure you want to turn?" Damon asked her and she smiled.

"As long as you're there." She nodded. "I couldn't imagine a better way to spend the rest of my life than with you. You might not be the romantic love of my life, but you are my soul mate, Damon. We were fated to be friends and I don't care if that means becoming a vampire. That's what I want." She said and she saw Damon's eyes watering.

"I'm going to miss you something awful." Damon said.

"I'm going to miss you too. We'll just have to skype every day." She said and Damon chuckled.

"It's so sad. I have no idea how I lived without skype before I started working at Saks." Damon said amused and she laughed.

"Sweetie, it wasn't long before you started working at Saks that you didn't like anyone. Who the hell would you have talked to?" She asked and he laughed.

"Yeah, good point." He smirked.

"By the way, Ric told me that Dante is planning a Vegas weekend after fashion week. I'll fly over for it." She said and Damon grinned.

"Awesome." Damon said and she laughed.

"Ric said you weren't going." She smirked and he chuckled.

"That was before I knew you were going." He said and she smiled.

"It'll be fun." She said.

"Let's hope Ric doesn't blow all his savings this time." Damon said amused and Zoe laughed.

"Are you going to take Caroline?" Zoe asked curiously.

"No idea. She might end up hating the job and quitting or she might hate New York and move back to Mystic Falls." Damon shrugged. "She might dislike the gang too." Damon pointed out.

"I doubt that. She's so nice." Zoe said and Damon smiled a little.

"Yeah, she's nice." Damon agreed.

"You think she's totally hot, don't you?" Zoe asked amused and Damon chuckled.

"I think she's totally hot." Damon nodded amused. "She looks a bit different now but she was so hot in that outfit she was wearing last night. Why didn't I notice before how hot she is?" Damon asked confused.

"You wouldn't have been good for her before now." Zoe countered. "Do you have your sights on her to make her girlfriend number five?" Zoe asked with a wide smile. She really liked Caroline so far.

"No." Damon shook his head. "If I hadn't used her as my chew toy and tried to kill her I would ask her out but I did feed from her and compel her so I can't go there." Damon said honestly.

"But that was like four years ago and you didn't have your emotions on." She pointed out and Damon shrugged.

"That's not something people forget, Zo. I wouldn't go out with me if I were her." Damon said and she sighed.

"Damon, you're such a wonderful boyfriend. She would see that and forget all about what happened before." Zoe said and he smirked.

"You liked her didn't you?" Damon asked her amused and she smiled.

"After everything you and Ric said about her and then meeting her today, I think we'll be great friends." She smiled. "She'd be good for you. You could be doing with someone bubbly like that in your life." She pointed out and he chuckled.

"You're not going to let this go are you?" Damon asked amused.

"Just, don't get another random girlfriend right away like usual. Give it a little time and let her get to know the real you. She'll forget about when you were different soon enough." She smiled.

"We'll see how things go then." Damon shrugged. "But you know Alex will be into her." He said and she giggled.

"He does love his blondes." She smiled. "Just tell him that you're interested and he won't go there." She shrugged.

"Ric called me Mr Relationship guy yesterday." Damon said annoyed and she laughed.

"You kind of are now though. But that's not a bad thing. I'm always in relationships too." She said with a smile.

"It's all your fault, you know. Before you, I got laid by different girls like four or five times a week." He said and she nodded.

"Yeah, but did that make you happy?" She asked him and he sighed.

"Well, the laid part, yes, the rest of the time, no." Damon said. "Have you told Keith that you're turning yet?" He asked curiously.

"No. I don't think we'll last that much longer to be honest. I overheard him telling his mother that he totally wants me to have his babies and since the thought of having kids makes me want to throw up, I don't think me turning will go down well." She said.

"That's why I'm not going to call Lily. She wanted to have kids. She said that we could either adopt or use a donor and I just don't want kids. Maybe in 100 years but definitely not now when I'm finally happy and having fun." Damon said and she nodded in understanding.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm not saying I'd never ever want kids but not in the foreseeable future. 100 years sounds about right." She said amused and he laughed. "Lily was great though. Are you still in love with her?" She asked and he shook his head.

"No. It took a while to get over her but I'm finally over her and I'm really happy about that." Damon said. "She was great but I don't think she'd be able to handle being a vampire."

"Yeah, she was probably too sweet for that. I am so happy you ditched Zytanya though." She laughed as did he.

"That probably wasn't my best dating decision." He smirked and she giggled.

"Rebound relationships are like that though." She shrugged. "I've dated plenty of weirdos." She smirked and he laughed.

"But I'm still your favourite, right?" Damon wiggled his eyebrows at her and she laughed.

"I think you'll always be my favourite." She smiled. "Would it bother you if I dated Ric one day?" She asked curiously and Damon looked surprised.

"Would you want to?" He asked her.

"When he calms down on the whoring himself around, yeah." She nodded.

"You like him?" Damon asked.

"Yeah, I've had a little crush on him for a while." She said and Damon smiled.

"I think he has a little crush on you too. That could work out really well actually. It wouldn't bother me at all." He said. "But Ric would have to be out of this phase he's going through because if he hurts you, I'll stake him." Damon said and she laughed.

"It wouldn't be for another few years anyway if it did happen. He's just enjoying being single and a vampire. I don't blame him for living his life to the fullest." She shrugged. "I'll probably do the same thing for a while once I'm under control." She smirked.

"It is fun to go a little wild for a while since there aren't any consequences when you're a vampire." He smiled.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Well, you can't get pregnant or get diseases." He shrugged.

"Good point." She nodded.

"What are you going to do in Tokyo besides fashion?" He asked.

"I'm going to get some of my tattoos removed." She said and Damon had a look of surprise.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because I doubt tattoo removal works when you're a vampire and some of my tattoos aren't perfect or aren't what I want for all eternity so I'll get rid of some of them." She shrugged. "I don't want anything on my body for the rest of time that isn't completely perfect." She said.

"Fair enough." Damon nodded. "I'll have 'Alaric' on my shoulder for all of eternity if it makes you feel any better." Damon smirked and she laughed.

"You know the deal, Damon. You can get it covered after you've had it for ten years." She said and he chuckled.

"Ric's my best friend as well as you. It doesn't really bother me." Damon shrugged with a smile. "I was thinking about this pin up tattoo. You should make it look like you then I'll have both of you on me." Damon said and she grinned.

"Seriously?" She asked happily.

"Yeah." Damon nodded. "You looked hottest with the dark pink hair though so make it that." Damon winked at her and she giggled.

"Don't you think any future girlfriends you have will have a problem with your ex being tattooed on you?" She asked amused and he shrugged.

"You're always going to be in my life, Zo. Any future girlfriends will have to just deal with that. If they don't like it, too bad." He said and she smiled.

"That's what I told Keith about you. I told him that he better not ever ask me to make a choice between you because he wouldn't like my answer." She said and Damon grinned knowing she would choose him every time.

"The only girlfriend I've had that had a problem with you was Jenny but that's because I went out with her two months after going out with you." He said. "I don't think other girls will have a problem." He shrugged.

"Then you don't know how jealous girls are." She said amused. "Zytanya didn't like me either, she just didn't say anything because she knew that you'd kick her to the curb for that." She laughed as did he.


	6. Chapter 6

I don't own The Vampire Diaries, I'm just a fan :)

* * *

><p>The Difference<p>

Chapter 6

* * *

><p>Caroline packed up her room in the boarding house and had a serious wardrobe clearout. She threw out most of her clothes as she gathered that her life was about to become all about work and Damon made it clear that designer was her only option at work – not that she minded one bit. She was so thrilled that Damon was giving her this chance. She was so thrilled that he was letting her into his world. He was so nice to her and she was looking forward to spending time with him and his friends. She saw how different he was – it would be impossible to miss that. She saw how close he was to Ric and Zoe and she hoped that one day he could trust her like he did them.<p>

She'd always wanted to get to know the real Damon and she knew that he had his emotions off when he came to Mystic Falls and she wasn't one to hold a grudge now that she knew better. He wasn't the guy that did those things anymore. She packed up her car so that it would be ready to go after the party. She had a feeling that Damon didn't leave because of work because she saw Stefan's face. She saw how Zoe ignored Elena. She saw Ric's face when he spoke to Elena. Truthfully, Caroline and Elena hardly talked at all anymore. Caroline wasn't interested in being friends with her so they only ever spoke if they happened to be in the same place at the same time. Elena had asked her to be a bridesmaid but she declined as they'd only seen each other a couple of times since Damon left. They were by no means friends.

* * *

><p>Stefan had spent all day thinking over everything Damon and Ric said. He'd spent all day replaying every memory he had of interactions he'd witnessed between Elena and Damon. Stefan either hadn't wanted to see it before or he'd been too oblivious in his will to protect her to notice. He couldn't avoid it anymore. He saw what Damon was like now. He'd wanted that Damon back since before Katherine showed up when they were human. He wanted to be a part of Damon's life. He didn't want to just be a visitor that saw Damon on special occasions, he wanted to have his big brother back in his life permanently. He had to talk to Elena without saying to her what he knew. He wanted to see Elena's reaction to anything about Damon. They'd hardly talked about Damon since he left as it was a sore spot for Stefan. He missed Damon terribly.<p>

Stefan went to the engagement party they were having at the Grill and he watched Elena curiously. He'd been pretty quiet all night though. Elena chitchatted with people who came then eventually went over to Stefan.

"Why are you in a mood? This is our engagement party and you look like you'd rather be anywhere else." She whispered to him annoyed.

"I was just hoping Damon would stay for longer." Stefan said. He'd dropped his brother's name in for a reaction.

"I don't believe for a second that he left because of work." Elena said seriously and Stefan pretended to act surprised.

"Why would he lie?" Stefan asked and she rolled her eyes.

"Obviously he can't be happy for us because he still loves me, Stefan." She said and Stefan's jaw dropped. "I wanted him to come to the wedding so that he could finally see that I'm choosing you. Maybe he could get over it then." Stefan was shocked. She only wanted Damon to come to hurt him? Bitch. "But Damon's always going to be selfish, Stefan. If he's seriously choosing his job over us, we don't need him in our lives. So I don't want you to have contact with him anymore. He will not be a part of our future, I'm warning you." She said and Stefan saw it. It's not that he didn't believe Damon and Alaric, he did. He just wanted to see it for himself. He was sure that in that moment, he fell out of love with Elena. He almost hated her in that moment.

"Elena, I can't do this anymore." Stefan said to her honestly.

"Do what?" She asked confused.

"I don't want to get married and I don't want to be with you anymore. We're over." He said to her seriously and her jaw dropped.

"What? Why?" She asked shocked.

"Honestly?" He asked her and she nodded wide eyed. "I don't love you anymore." Stefan said to her and she gasped in shock. Alaric and Caroline had obviously heard their interaction and both were stunned speechless. They'd been standing talking until they heard Damon's name. They'd heard what Elena said. They'd both been pissed that Elena had the nerve to call Damon selfish when he'd repeatedly put himself at risk to save her life. They'd been pissed that she was so self-absorbed that she thought Damon loved her. They'd been really pissed that she wanted to purposely hurt him.

"How can you say that?" She asked in disbelief.

"Because I'll never choose you over Damon." He said sincerely and her shock turned to fury.

"How could you ever choose Damon over me?" She asked angrily.

"Because despite everything, he's my big brother and I'll love him forever." Stefan said sincerely. Alaric grinned at that. He couldn't wait to tell Damon. "And to be quite honest, you don't make me happy." He said. "Oh and just to clear up your obvious confusion... Damon doesn't love you. He actually couldn't care less about you." Stefan said and her jaw dropped. Alaric's grin split his face at that as did Caroline's. She'd always wanted Elena to be put in her place like that. "I'll look around the house and pack anything of yours that I find. It'll be in a box outside the boarding house in the morning. Goodbye, Elena." Stefan said then calmly walked right out of the Grill. Caroline and Alaric were grinning and Elena noticed them and she was boiling furious. She stomped over to Alaric then.

"You tell that self-serving psychopath you call a friend that I hope he's happy now. I hate him. He comes to town for one day and everything comes crashing down. Whatever lies he told Stefan won't work." She warned and Alaric smirked at her.

"Actually, Damon didn't tell him anything. I did." Alaric said and her jaw dropped.

"What the hell did you say?" She asked shocked.

"It seems you didn't tell Stefan about a certain thing you did when Damon was dying." Alaric said and her eyes widened.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She said and Alaric laughed.

"And you have the nerve to call Damon a liar?" He asked amused. "Damon is the best person I know and you will never compare to him. You're pathetic, Elena. Isobel would have been utterly ashamed to have you as a daughter." Ric said and Elena gasped in shock that he would say that. Ric grabbed his jacket then left the Grill.

"How dare he say that to me!" Elena exclaimed and Caroline giggled.

"You're just mad because people see through you now." Caroline said amused then followed Ric out the door.

* * *

><p>Caroline and Ric sped into the boarding house to find Stefan zooming around the house at vampire speed.<p>

"What are you doing?" Caroline asked him curiously and Stefan went to them.

"Can I come with you to New York?" Stefan asked them both and Ric looked surprised.

"Yeah, of course." Ric nodded.

"Are you sure about this, Stefan?" Caroline asked him and Stefan grinned at her.

"Honestly? I feel free." Stefan said and they both smiled at him.

"Damon's going to be so pissed at me." Ric said and Stefan shook his head.

"I won't tell him what you told me. Even if you hadn't said that, after what Elena said about him tonight in the Grill, I would have had the same reaction." Stefan said honestly.

"I'm glad you stood up for him." Alaric smiled.

"I'm going to get going now." Caroline said to them. "Since the party's over and everything." She said with a smirk. It was only 8pm so she'd maybe be able to catch Damon awake by the time she got there.

"Are you going to head back with me?" Ric asked Stefan.

"There's no room in my car for anymore stuff." Caroline said.

"Yeah, that's fine. Thank you." Stefan smiled.

"Are we going to head back in the morning then?" Ric asked happily.

"I'll get everything packed tonight." Stefan nodded.

* * *

><p>Caroline drove like a bat out of hell to New York and she managed it in five and a half hours. She'd programmed the address into her GPS and it estimated that she was about ten minutes away so she called Damon.<p>

"_Hey._" He answered and she smiled. It didn't sound like he'd been asleep and she was surprised that he sounded happy to hear from her.

"Hey, I'm ten minutes away according to the GPS." She said.

"_Really?_" He said surprised. "_When did you leave?_" He asked curiously.

"At 8pm." She replied.

"_The party that crap?_" He asked with a chuckle and she giggled.

"I'll fill you in when I get there." She said.

"_Okay. The code for the garage is 5698. Our floor is the top floor in the garage. I'll wait for you there._" He said.

"Great. See you soon." She said happily.

"_Looking forward to it, Caroline._" He said and she blinked in surprise.

"Me too." She smiled then hung up. She followed the streets and when she got to where the address was she was stunned by the beautiful big building. She saw the turn off for the garage and turned in then typed in the code Damon told her and drove in. There was a car elevator and she drove in and pressed the button for the fifth floor which was the top floor. Minutes later she was there and she drove out. She noticed Damon's blue car immediately and he was lounging against it with a smirk and she giggled at the sight of him. He was wearing black pyjama trousers and a band t-shirt and she thought he looked gorgeous. She liked him both casual like that and all dressed up. She parked her car and jumped out with a grin and hugged him and he chuckled.

"I don't think you've ever been that happy to see me before." He pointed out amused when she pulled away and she giggled.

"I missed you these three years. That and I'm so excited to be here." She smiled.

"I missed you too, Barbie." He winked at her and she giggled at the memory of her old nickname. "Let's get you inside then." He smirked. He grabbed her bags then the two of them walked over to an elevator that Damon opened with a key. "I'll get one of these made for you." He said and she smiled. They went in the elevator and went up to the fourteenth floor which was the top floor. The doors opened and Caroline's jaw dropped at the penthouse. It was enormous and open and had a wall lined with windows so it overlooked the city. She thought it was incredible.

"This place is amazing." She said and he smiled.

"Glad you like it. You'll hate the door guy though. He's a total dick." Damon said and she laughed. "I'll give you the tour in a second. I made up the bed in Zoe's old room which is on this floor. My bedroom is on this floor too but on the opposite end of the penthouse. The other two bedrooms are upstairs. I just figured you'd rather not be on the same floor as the resident man whore." Damon smirked and she laughed.

"Works for me." She giggled. Damon took her down a hall to the left and at the bottom of the hall was a door and he opened it. She was shocked at the sheer size of the bedroom. It had cherry wood floors and the walls were painted mauve and lilac. There was a huge white four poster bed and one wall was floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the city. She thought it was wonderful. "Wow, this room is so cool." She said and Damon smiled.

"I'm happy you like it. This room has a connecting bathroom." He pointed to the other door. "Don't worry about the windows, by the way. You can see out but nobody can see in. There's a coating on the outside." He said after he set down her bags. "Do you want the tour now or do you want some time to put away your things?" Damon asked her.

"The tour." She grinned and he chuckled. He showed her the kitchen, the TV room, the living room and the two dining rooms. One dining room was more relaxed and Damon explained that they mainly used that one then he showed her the other one which was more elegant and he explained that he only used that if he had to entertain business clients at home which barely ever happened so the room was hardly ever used. He led her down the other hall and showed her his room which was basically the same as hers except the decorating was different then he took her upstairs. He showed her the other guest room and Alaric's room and the living room that was upstairs which was like a games and party room for when their friends came over. They also had a small room just off the kitchen that was chilled and it had hundreds of bottles of different types of booze in it and Damon told her to help herself whenever she wanted. Caroline adored the place. They ended up sitting in the living room both with a glass of wine.

"Now that you've seen the whole place, if there are any changes you want made, you can let us know. At the end of the day, this has been a guy's apartment so if you want to girly it up a bit that'll be fine with us." Damon smirked and she laughed.

"Honestly, I love the whole place. I don't want to change anything." She said sincerely.

"Well, if you change your mind you can let me know." He said and she smiled. "Want to tell me why you left the party early?" He asked curiously and she giggled.

"Not much point in staying at an engagement party where you're only there for the future groom then said future groom dumps the future bride." She said amused and Damon's jaw dropped. "Then there's not much point in staying when the future groom takes off and you can't stand the future bride." Caroline shrugged.

"Stefan dumped Elena?" Damon asked shocked and Caroline nodded.

"Yeah, but she's a bitch. She didn't deserve Stefan." Caroline said.

"You're not friends anymore?" Damon asked shocked.

"No. We haven't been for years. I even turned down being her bridesmaid." She said and Damon blinked in surprise.

"Why did Stefan dump Elena?" Damon asked.

"Stefan was sitting at the bar in the Grill by himself and Elena went over to him and told him to stop being moody. He told her that he was sad you couldn't stay and she said that it was obvious you left because you're in love with her and can't be happy for them. Stefan looked at her like she was insane and then she said that you were always going to be selfish and that Stefan wasn't allowed to have any contact with you. Stefan's whole facial expression changed and he looked at her like he hated her then he told her that they were over because he didn't love her anymore and she didn't make him happy. She blamed you and he told her that he would never pick her over you because you're his big brother and he'll love you forever then he told her to clear up her obvious confusion, you don't love her and could actually care less about her then he told her that he'd put her stuff in a box and leave it outside the boarding house. Then he said goodbye and left." Caroline said and Damon stared at her in disbelief.

"Fuck." Damon muttered. "This is all my fault." He mumbled.

"No, it's not. It's a good thing Stefan dumped her because Ric looked like he was about to rip her throat out." Caroline said and Damon smirked at that.

"Ric's overly sensitive when it comes to me." Damon said. "I told Stefan that I wouldn't be going to the wedding because I couldn't support his choice to marry someone who would one day break his heart and he deserved better. I didn't say that to make him dump her though." Damon said.

"Damon, even if you hadn't said that to him, the minute Elena said he wasn't allowed you in his life, it was over for Stefan. Stefan and I have become best friends over the last few years. I know how much he missed you. I know how important you are to him. I saw how unhappy he was with Elena and I told him that. He only proposed to Elena because she talked him into it." Caroline said.

"I'm going to need to call him about this." Damon muttered. "I never meant to cause any problems." Damon said sincerely and she could see his obvious guilt over it.

"No need to call him. He'll be here with Ric tomorrow." She said with a smile and his eyes widened.

"What?" Damon asked shocked.

"He's moving to New York." She said.

"He is?" Damon asked stunned but Caroline could see how happy Damon was about the thought of that.

"I asked him when we followed him back to the boarding house if he was sure about this and he smiled a huge happy smile and told us he finally felt free." She said and Damon nodded. He knew his brother. Stefan made this decision for himself.

"It'll be nice to have him in my life again." Damon agreed.

"Don't feel bad about them breaking up, Damon. Stefan wasn't happy with her. This is a good thing for him. It's been a long time coming. He'll be happy with you." Caroline smiled. Damon couldn't help grinning a little at her response.

"But what about college? He said he loved his college course." Damon said to her.

"He can transfer over to a college in New York. We can do whatever we want with the right _persuasion_." She winked at him and he laughed at her cheeky expression.

"Very true." He smiled. "You know, I'm not working tomorrow. I can take you into work and we can get your wardrobe if you want to." Damon said and she smiled.

"Are you sure you want to spend your day off in the place you work?" She asked and he chuckled.

"Well, it's not like we'd be there all day. I've already said to one of the stylists to pick out stuff that would suit a fair skinned, beautiful blue eyed blonde so there will be a whole bunch of outfits ready for you to look at tomorrow." He shrugged and she grinned at his thoughtfulness. "So if you want to do that in the morning, I'll take you out to lunch and show you around New York after that." He suggested.

"Sounds great." She grinned. "I threw out like 70% of my clothes before I came here." She said and he chuckled.

"You didn't need to do that. It's only in work that the designer thing is necessary. I still dress normally when I'm not at meetings or in the office." He shrugged. "Two weeks ago I was walking by this second hand shop and I saw a jacket in the window I liked and I bought it for like $12." Damon chuckled. "Zoe nearly had a heart attack that I would wear that." Damon said and Caroline giggled.

"I can't wait to get to know Zoe. Ric talked about her a lot today. She seems so much fun." She said and Damon grinned.

"Yeah, Zoe is awesome." Damon nodded.

"Can you tell me about your other friends?" She asked.

"Ric and I have a group of friends that we always hang out with. Dante, Alex, Rob, Tin Tin and Daria. I'm closest to Daria, Dante and Rob but I'm still really good friends with Alex and Tin Tin. Daria is a no bullshit girl who is crazy and wild and she's ridiculously blunt. She is herself and she thinks if everyone doesn't like who she is, they can fuck off." Damon smirked and Caroline giggled.

"I like her already." Caroline said and Damon laughed.

"Thought you would. Dante is like the epitome of a manly man." Damon chuckled. "He's obsessed with cars and motorbikes and he drinks beer from the second he wakes up in the morning until he goes to bed." Damon chuckled. "He works as a car mechanic and has done for the last sixty years just because he loves it." Damon smirked. "He's like an actual cliché because he is like a 'macho man'." Damon laughed. "You would never think in a million years he could be gay." Damon said. "But he is." Damon nodded. "He's a decent guy and after a few beers he is so hilariously funny. He's always up for a good time." Damon smiled.

"He sounds fun." Caroline smiled.

"He is." Damon nodded. "Tin Tin is a total diva and a drama queen. She's egotistical and a bit of a bitch but after you get to know her she's dry and sarcastic and a lot of fun. Absolutely _everything_ pisses her off." Damon laughed. "We have a funny relationship because we just insult each other all night when we see each other." Damon smirked. "It's fun having someone to banter with like that."

"How long has she been a vampire?" Caroline asked.

"Since 1921. She was 26 when she turned. Daria was 21 when she turned and that was in 1973. Dante was 30 when he turned and that was in 1895." Damon said. "Alex will hit on you. His whole life revolves around blonde women." Damon said amused and she laughed. "He's 27 and an architect. He's one of those guys that is kind of quiet until he gets a drink in him then he thinks he's Casanova." Damon laughed. "He's nice though." Damon said. "He's best friends with Tin Tin. Rob is Daria's boyfriend. He's in a band and thinks he's really cool." Damon laughed. "He's kind of arrogant and cocky but he's a good guy." He said. "Dante is Tin Tin and Daria's sire and they've been with each other since they turned."

"Think they'll like me?" Caroline asked and Damon chuckled.

"What's not to like?" He asked her and she grinned at him. "Daria, Dante and Alex will like you straight away. Alex might like you a little too much for my liking but you can tell him to fuck off when he pisses you off, which he will." Damon smirked and she laughed. She thought it was strange that Damon would care who hit on her. "Tin Tin won't even admit that she likes _me_ and we've been friends for two years but she loves Ric." Damon chuckled. "Rob will like you if Daria likes you. He's so whipped. Rob's whole life revolves around Daria." Damon laughed. "They've been together for three years. Rob wants to turn to be with her but she won't turn him unless they're still happy after five or six years together." Damon said.

"How old is Rob?" She asked curiously.

"Rob is 25." Damon said. "Daria wants him to be totally sure because she knows that once he's a little older he might start thinking about things like a family and stuff and she doesn't want him to regret anything." Damon said and Caroline nodded. She could understand that.

"Does Maritina have feelings for Ric or does she just love him like I love Stefan?" She asked curiously and Damon couldn't help smiling at that as obviously she didn't have feelings for his brother. He'd been a little concerned about that even if he didn't want to admit it.

"She just sees him as a friend." Damon replied. "Dante has feelings for Ric but he doesn't make it at all obvious because he knows Ric doesn't swing that way." Damon shrugged.

"I'm looking forward to meeting them all." Caroline smiled.

"Daria is coming over tomorrow night for dinner, so you'll meet her then." Damon said. "Though, you'll be out with Zoe at YSL if you still want to do that. Daria will be here when you get back." Damon said.

"Cool. You know, I think Zoe is really beautiful. I love that really tattooed look on girls. I've always thought it looks so cool." She said and Damon laughed.

"Don't tell her that. She's doing a tattoo apprenticeship on the side and she'll start trying to talk you into getting tattoos." Damon said amused. "She's already done three on me." Damon laughed.

"What are they?" She asked.

"You saw the one I have of Ric's name." Damon smirked and she laughed.

"Yeah. Did Zoe do that one?" She asked and Damon nodded.

"Yeah, she's really good at it already. She also tattooed a black rose on my leg and Latin writing on my ribs." Damon said amused. "She's making me get another one of a pin up girl." Damon laughed.

"You'd look hot with sleeves." Caroline replied and Damon laughed.

"You sound like Zoe. I think that's her plan. I think she's just going to keep making me get tattoos until I run out of hidden places to put them and I'll have to get them on my arms." Damon said amused.

"Don't you like them?" Caroline asked curiously and he shrugged.

"They're fine. I don't really think about it to be honest. It doesn't bother me if Zoe wants me to get them though because I'm fine with letting her practice. It makes her happy, so..." He shrugged.

"I love them." Caroline smiled.

"If you want any, talk to Zoe. If she can't do what you want, she'll know the best artists." Damon shrugged. "Her boyfriend is amazing at oriental style tattoos as well as lots of other stuff."

"Can't you see the appeal on the opposite sex though?" Caroline grinned and Damon chuckled.

"Yeah, it's hot." Damon smirked. "I don't like little crappy tattoos like my Alaric tattoo but the stuff that's real artwork like sleeves and stuff looks amazing." Damon nodded.

"Think I'd suit sleeves?" She asked and he cocked an eyebrow at her.

"I think you'd look hot either way." Damon said with a cheeky smirk and she grinned at him.

"Thanks." She said and he winked at her.

"Are you tired?" He asked curiously.

"Not really. Why?" She asked.

"Want to watch a movie or something?" Damon asked.

"Sure. I'll just go put my pyjamas on. Pick whatever you want to watch." She smiled then took off down to her new bedroom. Damon smirked at her retreating form as he watched her hurry down the hall to her room. He had to admit – he liked the bubbly blonde.


	7. Chapter 7

I don't own The Vampire Diaries, I'm just a fan :)

* * *

><p>The Difference<p>

Chapter 7

* * *

><p>The two of them watched a movie and talked and laughed then went to bed. They got up early and got ready then Damon took her to Saks. He pointed out the door guy on the way out of the building and Caroline giggled. She could see why he annoyed Damon as the guy had a really annoying voice and said 'Mr Salvatore' in a bored irritating drawl when Damon walked past him but Damon ignored him as they went out to the car that was sent to pick them up. When they got to Saks, everyone said hi to Damon on the way in and he introduced her to everyone as the new fashion coordinator. She grinned at them all when she met them and she had to admit she was kind of in heaven as she looked around the store. The thought that she actually worked there now was amazing for her. He took her up to his office and Damon was deliriously happy that it was Mandy's day off.<p>

He gave her a tour of the office and took her to the staff closet to show her it. It wasn't so much a closet as a store in itself. There were so many clothes, shoes, bags and accessories. Caroline loved it all. Then he took her to see the senior stylist who'd picked out over a hundred items for her to try on. Caroline was blown away by the woman's taste and loved most of what she'd chosen. Damon put everything she wanted on his company account as he told her there was thousands of unused dollars on it that would go to waste if it wasn't used up, so she felt a little less badly for accepting them. He showed her to her office and was shocked at the size of it. He said that she would have a shared secretary with the woman whose office was next to hers and he would introduce them the next day. It was Sunday so most of the staff had a day off.

After he'd arranged for the clothes to be delivered that day to the penthouse, the two of them went back to the car and the driver took them to lunch. They had lunch and Caroline was stunned at just how much fun she was having with Damon. He was excellent company and he was so nice to her. He made her laugh and she couldn't get over how much he'd done for her. She had to admit that she was forming a rather large crush on him. She couldn't help it. With his new look he was beyond gorgeous and aside from that he was just being so wonderful to her. After lunch, they took a walk around the city then Zoe met them in central park. They hung out for a little while then Zoe handed over the Valentino freebies to Damon to take home to the penthouse then she took Caroline to the YSL meeting and Damon went home. When he got in the door, Ric and Stefan were there.

"Stefan I didn't tell you what I told you to get you to dump her." Damon said to Stefan before he had a chance to speak and Stefan sighed.

"I know that. That's not why I did it." Stefan said. "What did Caroline tell you?"

"Just about your argument in the Grill." Damon shrugged.

"I think deep down I've been looking for a reason to end things for a while. She gave me that reason when she told me that she wanted me to have nothing to do with you." Stefan said and Damon could see that Stefan was dead set on his decision.

"I wouldn't stop talking to you if you did marry her, you know." Damon said and Stefan nodded.

"I know." He agreed. "I'm happy it's over, Damon." He said sincerely and Damon nodded.

"Alright." He said. "Well, I have to say I'm really happy you're here." Damon smiled and Stefan looked surprised then grinned and hugged Damon tightly. Damon hugged back and thought things couldn't get any better. "Caroline took the extra bedroom on this floor so you can take the one upstairs." Damon said to him.

"You don't mind me living here?" Stefan asked surprised and Damon chuckled.

"No, Stefan, I don't mind. But, you said you loved your college course so you should compel yourself a transfer. I'll do it if your compulsion isn't working right yet." Damon shrugged.

"That's a great idea." Stefan grinned. "Ric also said I can work in his club if I want to."

"It's a great club, Stef." Damon agreed.

"Where's Caroline?" Ric asked curiously.

"Zoe took her to the YSL meeting." Damon shrugged. "I took her into the office this morning so she could get some clothes and see the place she'll be working in."

"And?" Ric asked with a smile.

"She liked it. I don't think I've ever seen anyone look like they were in heaven as much as she did when I took her to the closet." Damon laughed as did Ric.

"What's that?" Stefan asked as he sat back down. Damon sat next to him.

"We get designers sending in clothes and stuff for the staff to wear. It's a huge closet and anyone can borrow stuff from there. It's usually the rarer stuff or the mega expensive stuff that the closet gets. Not the stuff you get in store." Damon shrugged. "A lot of girls in work use the closet for dates and stuff because the clothes are different to what they have to wear to work." Damon said.

"Can I come in and see your office some time?" Stefan asked and Damon nodded.

"You can come in as much as you want. I'll get you a staff key for the elevator so you don't have to call up." Damon said. "You can use Ric's until I get you one. Ric doesn't come in anymore because of Mandy." Damon smirked and Stefan laughed.

"If you took her there this morning, why are you just getting back now?" Ric asked confused and Damon shrugged.

"I took her to lunch then showed her around the city a little. She's never been here before." Damon said and both boys nodded. "Daria's coming over for take out tonight." Damon said to Ric.

"Awesome. I haven't seen her in like a week." Ric frowned and Damon laughed.

"You'll have to tell her that you missed her. That'll make her happy." Damon said amused and Ric rolled his eyes.

"Where are the others tonight?" Ric asked.

"Rob has band practice, Tin Tin and Alex are going to the theatre and Dante has a date." Damon shrugged.

"What about Zoe?" Ric asked.

"She'll come back with Caroline." Damon shrugged. "Keith might come over later too." Damon said.

"Who's Keith?" Stefan asked.

"Zoe's boyfriend." Damon said.

"He comes over to your place?" Stefan asked surprised and Damon laughed.

"Zoe and I haven't dated for over two years, Stefan. Keith and I get along really well. He's a good guy." Damon said.

"He's not good enough for Zoe though." Ric pointed out and Damon laughed.

"Ric, who are we ever going to think is good enough for Zoe?" Damon asked amused.

"You may have a point." Ric smirked.

"You both really care about her don't you?" Stefan asked.

"No, we don't just care about her. We both love her unconditionally. She's like the most amazing person in the world." Ric said and Damon nodded his head in agreement. "She's our best friend."

"Caroline told me that you and her are really good friends." Damon said to Stefan.

"Yeah, she's my best friend. She's really amazing." Stefan agreed.

"I've noticed." Damon smirked and both Stefan and Ric snapped their heads to look at him surprised.

"I knew it." Ric said amused. "You're totally going to have a girlfriend again in like two weeks." Ric rolled his eyes and Damon laughed.

"I'm not going to pursue her." Damon shook his head.

"Why not?" Ric asked confused.

"Why would she go out with me? I used to snack on her and tried to kill her." Damon said dryly.

"Damon, that was well over four years ago and you aren't remotely like that anymore. You're a total sap in relationships and she'd see that and forget all about the other stuff." Ric said and Damon chuckled.

"Zoe said practically the same thing except she didn't call me a sap. You have to stop telling people that too." Damon said.

"Caroline was over all of that a while after she turned." Stefan said.

"Still." Damon shrugged.

"You wouldn't even go out with her if she liked you?" Stefan cocked an eyebrow and Damon smirked.

"Well, that would be different but I'm not going to go out of my way to go after her because I wouldn't want to put any pressure on her." Damon said.

"I know she finds you attractive." Stefan said and Damon chuckled.

"She told you that?" Damon asked amused.

"Her exact words after you and Ric left the house on Friday were 'Was it just me or is Damon even hotter than before?'." Stefan said amused and Damon chuckled. "Then Bonnie agreed with her and Tyler got jealous." Stefan laughed.

"That's a really weird couple." Damon said.

"Don't change the subject." Ric said amused. "You spent the whole day with her. What happened last night when she got here?"

"We watched a couple of movies and talked a little." Damon shrugged.

"Do you just think she's hot or do you like her?" Ric asked curiously and Damon chuckled.

"Stop being a pain in the ass, Ric." Damon said and Ric laughed.

"That means you like her." Ric said amused.

"Just let it go, okay? She literally just got to New York. I'm not going to pounce on her." Damon said and both boys laughed.

"If you do eventually go after her, you have to treat her well. She's special." Stefan said to Damon in the best friend 'warning' tone. Damon smirked as he'd used that tone with all guys interested in Zoe.

"You have nothing to worry about, Stefan. Damon treats girls like princesses." Ric said to Stefan and Damon rolled his eyes.

"You seriously have to stop that, Ric." Damon said.

"I'm your brother. I'm allowed to know this stuff about you." Stefan said amused.

"Fine, after all those years of treating women badly because my emotions were off, I may go a teeny bit overboard now. If I'm with someone, I like making them happy. Just don't go spreading it around." Damon said and they laughed. "You know, Ric. You should take Stefan out to the club tonight. Show him how to have a good time in New York." Damon smirked and Ric laughed.

"Sure, if you want to, Stefan." Ric smiled.

"I'm in. You not coming?" Stefan asked Damon.

"Yeah, right. Damon is too boring to go clubbing on a school night." Ric smirked and Stefan laughed.

"Am not. Fine. I'll go." Damon smirked and Ric looked surprised.

"Really? Awesome. Let's see if Zoe, Caroline and Daria want to go too." Ric grinned.

"Well, a little blood will cure Zoe's hangover and tiredness in the morning so she might." Damon nodded. "Ric, we need to start looking for a bigger place." Damon said.

"Why?" Ric asked confused.

"Because we don't have any spare rooms anymore." Damon pointed out.

"There's the fold out couch bed in the party room." Ric said.

"Yeah, but still." Damon said.

"But I love this place." Ric frowned.

"We could get a better place." Damon pointed out.

"Damon, I don't think you understand how much I love this apartment. I think I'd happily live here for the rest of eternity." Ric said and Damon laughed.

"Fine. Actually, you know the apartment under us is for sale. We could buy that and somehow get the two of them connected so that we have a four story penthouse." Damon smirked.

"See, now you're using that ancient brain of yours. How much is it?" Ric asked.

"They want 1.4 Mil for it." Damon said to Ric.

"700 each?" Ric asked as he thought that over. He was earning a ton from the nightclub.

"Well, if you're serious about me living here, I can put money towards it too." Stefan said.

"How much can you afford to put to it?" Damon asked curiously. He knew Stefan had plenty of money just like he had.

"Whatever you want." Stefan shrugged. "Do you two own this place?" He asked.

"This place was 2.2 million at the time we bought it and I didn't have that kind of money then so I've been paying Damon back my share so that we can own it jointly. At this point I've paid back 900, so nearly there." Ric said.

"Well, why don't I put 1.2 million towards it then that covers a third for me?" Stefan suggested.

"Works for me." Ric nodded then looked at Damon.

"It'll cost a couple hundred to get contractors to join the two apartments though." Damon said.

"That's fine with me." Stefan shrugged.

"Damon, I'm getting a profit share in two months. It should be about half a mil so I can pay you back anything that it costs." Ric said.

"Dude, I'm not worried about the money. Just the logistics of it all." Damon said.

"Still. You know I like to pay my way." Ric said and Damon nodded. He liked that about Ric. Ric always wanted to do it for himself and never wanted hand outs. He was fiercely independent and was so good at his job in the club, it was earning him mega bucks.

"Alright. I'll call the lawyers we used to get this place and get them to put in an offer." Damon said.

"This will be good too because we'll all be able to have a floor to ourselves." Ric said and Damon laughed.

"You just don't want everyone to hear you constantly getting laid." Damon said amused and Ric rolled his eyes.

"What's the point in living for eternity if you can't have as much fun as you want?" Ric asked with a smirk.

"I think this is going to be fun." Stefan grinned at his brother.

"How many bedrooms are in the apartment downstairs?" Ric asked Damon.

"Two." Damon said. "But, there's an indoor pool." Damon grinned and both boys looked excited at the thought.

"That'll be awesome. Drunken pool parties." Ric grinned and Damon laughed.

"It's quite a big pool for an apartment actually." Damon nodded.

"As soon as you said pool my first thought was 'bikinis'." Ric said and Damon and Stefan laughed.

"And we're all single." Damon smirked.

"Not for long." Ric gave Damon a pointed look and he rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, Ric." Damon muttered and they laughed.

"How do you deal with household bills and stuff?" Stefan asked them.

"We have a joint bank account that we both transfer a couple of thousand into every few months and all the bills come out of that. When the money's nearly done, we just transfer a few more in and so on." Damon shrugged.

"Cool. If you give me the bank details I'll do the same thing then." Stefan nodded.

"By the way, I get a company shopping allowance every quarter but if I don't use it up, I lose it and just get a new allowance the next quarter. Caroline didn't use it all up today so if there's anything you want from the store just let me know. It has to be used up by Friday." Damon said to Stefan.

"Are you sure?" Stefan asked happily.

"Yeah. There's like $2800 left on it and it's kind of a waste if I don't use it but I've bought everything I want from the store and so has Ric." Damon said and Ric nodded in agreement.

"Okay, I'll come in and have a look. How is there so much left if Caroline got so much stuff? All the bags are over there and since it's designer, I thought it would have cost a fortune." Stefan said and Damon nodded.

"Yeah, but I also get 75% off everything so if something's like a thousand bucks, only $250 comes off my allowance." Damon said.

"What is your quarterly allowance?" Stefan asked curiously and Ric laughed.

"It's mental the perks he gets." Ric laughed.

"It's $25000 per quarter." Damon shrugged and Stefan's jaw dropped.

"So since you get a 75% discount, it's really like they're giving you $100000 per quarter." Stefan said shocked and Damon chuckled.

"Yeah." Damon smirked.

"Can I be nosy and ask what your salary is?" Stefan asked curiously and Damon chuckled.

"Yeah, I get 1.5 million this year but it'll go up 15% next year plus I get six monthly profit bonuses as well as other bonuses." Damon smirked. "So in total if all goes the way it should, this year I should make about 2.4 million." Damon said.

"Wow." Stefan said shocked and Ric chuckled.

"But he works like every single day from early in the morning until late at night. He works his ass off for it. It's not for nothing." Ric said.

"True." Damon nodded. "Ric will be the one coining in the mega bucks soon since he's saving up to buy the nightclub." Damon smiled.

"That's cool." Stefan agreed.

"Ric turned that place into the most popular club in the city. Profits were nearly non-existent before he got there." Damon said.

"I can't wait until that place is mine." Ric grinned. "Then after I've got that place, I want to open up a bar that's similar to the club and close by so people can go to the bar first then head over to the club after." He smiled.

"Stuff like bars and clubs are great though because you'll still earn money after you get to the point you look too young to be that old." Stefan said and Ric nodded.

"Yeah, it's a good investment as long as I keep it up to date and popular. But I'll be able to do that from a distance after we leave New York." Ric agreed.

"Have you talked about that?" Stefan asked them.

"What we'll do when we can't be here anymore?" Damon asked and Stefan nodded. "Vaguely. Nothing concrete though because I seriously don't know how I could possibly not have my job anymore. I'm so used to working constantly now I couldn't go back to just doing nothing." Damon said.

"Problem with that though is the fashion world is so small. It won't matter where we go, Damon won't be able to work in fashion again until this generation dies." Ric said sadly and Damon nodded in somber agreement.

"You could do the same job in a different area of business." Stefan pointed out.

"Yeah, I know." Damon agreed. "I'll probably go into the magazine, film or music industry next time." He said.

"So does that mean you might go to LA next?" Stefan asked.

"We've gotten so used to the busy city, we probably couldn't live in a smaller type of city or town again." Ric agreed. "Plus, I can easily put up a good club in LA. I think I'll probably stick to the nightlife scene because I just love it." Ric grinned and Damon smiled at him fondly. He was glad his best friend had found something that made him so happy as teaching never did.


	8. Chapter 8

I don't own The Vampire Diaries, I'm just a fan :)

* * *

><p>The Difference<p>

Chapter 8

* * *

><p>"Do you two ever go on vacation anywhere?" Stefan asked.<p>

"We've been to Vegas a couple of times and we went to Ibiza for a week after Lily and I broke up but other than that, no. We don't have time for vacations." Damon chuckled. "Speaking of that, we're going to Vegas after fashion week if you want to come." Damon said.

"I thought you weren't going." Ric said surprised.

"Zoe's going." Damon smirked and Ric laughed.

"Oh, so you'll go if Zoe asks but not if I ask? Lame." Ric smirked and Damon laughed.

"Zoe's going to Tokyo. I'll see her any chance I get and I know you feel the same way." Damon pointed out and Ric nodded.

"And a few weeks after we come back from Vegas, I'm throwing a huge party at the club for Damon's 170th birthday." Ric grinned and Damon chuckled.

"That'll be fun." Stefan smiled.

"Yeah, but Zoe can't come so it won't be perfect." Damon said and Ric sighed.

"At least try to have fun, Damon." Ric said and Damon laughed.

"I will have fun. I am really grateful that you're doing that for me, don't get me wrong." Damon smirked. "By the way, Stefan. I didn't see Liz in town. How is she doing?" Damon asked and Stefan's face grew solemn.

"Damon, I'm begging you... Don't bring up Liz in front of Caroline." Stefan said seriously.

"Why? What happened?" Damon asked.

"Liz died." Stefan said and Damon's jaw dropped.

"What! When?" Damon exclaimed.

"I'll tell you the whole story if you promise not to bring any of it up in front of Caroline." Stefan said and Damon nodded.

"I promise." Damon said.

"Me too." Ric agreed.

"Well, after you left, Caroline and Liz had a couple of big long talks and their relationship was great. Caroline started going to call outs with Liz because she could stop the criminals without any risk of being hurt then Liz could arrest them. They did that together for a few months and the two of them became so close. Just what both of them had always wanted. One night the station got a call about a robbery and Liz went. She called Caroline on the way and Caroline dropped what she was doing and sped herself there. Liz didn't wait for Caroline though and decided to go in by herself. Caroline got there moments later and Liz was cuffing two guys. Caroline took the two armed guys out to the cop car and shoved them in the backseat. Liz walked down from the scene behind her and two other guys that had been part of the group jumped out and fired on them. Both Caroline and Liz were shot in the head by the other two guys so Caroline was knocked unconscious. When she healed and came to, the four guys were gone and her mother was lying dead with a bullet in her head. Caroline couldn't cope so she turned her emotions off. She tracked down the four guys by following their scent and she killed them all." Stefan said and Damon nodded.

"Good, because if she hadn't I would have." Damon said seriously and Stefan nodded.

"Me too. But... She couldn't turn them back on after that. I gave her space and tried to help as the town mourned the Sheriff. Bonnie even tried a spell to bring Liz back but it didn't work. The witches said she was abusing her power by wanting to screw with the balance of nature." Stefan said.

"Witches. So judgy." Damon said annoyed.

"I kept an eye on Caroline and she started killing. She fed and killed, she had playthings, guys she screwed and fed from, she made no indication that she was going to turn it back on. I kept trying to think of ways to get her to come back because I knew that Caroline wouldn't want to be an emotionless shell of a person for the rest of her life. She lived in the boarding house with no emotions for four months until one day she overheard Carol Lockwood saying it was just as well Liz was shot because she was a crap Sheriff. Caroline killed Carol Lockwood right there and then in the middle of the day in the town square. Three people saw her do it and she killed them too. So I locked her in the cell. She lived in that cell for two months. I took her out every day so she wouldn't go insane in there but I always had to put her back. One day I went down and told her that her mother wouldn't want her to mourn her like this and she broke down and switched them back on. She had a really hard time as her mother had been dead for six months and she never had time to mourn her. It took her a long while to be okay after that but she got there. That's why we're so close now. We spent a lot of time together because of that. That's why Caroline and Elena aren't friends anymore. Elena accused her of trying to steal me from her and Caroline told her to fuck off and mind her own business as we are just friends. Nobody in Mystic Falls knows that Caroline killed Carol Lockwood. I didn't tell anyone it was her." Stefan explained. Both Damon and Alaric were ashen at the thought Caroline had gone through all of that and were sad for Liz.

"Why didn't you call us to come back?" Damon asked him in disbelief.

"Because Caroline is very fragile emotionally. It wouldn't have been good for her to be surrounded by people who knew what she did." Stefan said and Damon shook his head.

"I could care less how many breathers she killed, Stefan. Her body count is never going to compare to ours." Damon pointed out.

"I know that but she didn't see it that way. I asked her if I should call you, Damon... She asked me not to because you asked her once not to turn off her emotions and she felt like she let you down by doing so." Stefan said and Damon stared in disbelief.

"I could never be pissed or disappointed in her for doing that. I had mine off for so long. I'm sure it happens to every vampire at some point for one reason or another. This happened to be a much better reason than mine." Damon said.

"I know that too. I told her you wouldn't be disappointed in her but she didn't want you to be burdened by her. I told her that she wouldn't be a burden but it's Caroline... She never wants to bother anyone." He shook his head.

"I can't believe Liz is dead." Damon whispered. He was so desperately saddened by that.

"This is crazy, Stefan. How could you not tell us that Liz died?" Ric asked shocked.

"Because if I told you Liz died, you would have seen Caroline without her emotions and she didn't want that." Stefan said.

"Did she just kill the guys?" Damon asked Stefan.

"What do you mean?" Stefan asked confused.

"I mean did she torture them." Damon said.

"No. She ripped all of their hearts out." Stefan said and Damon nodded.

"That's good. She'd have a harder time coping if she tortured them." Damon said.

"Does Bonnie know that she was killing?" Alaric asked.

"No, I kept it from everyone and Caroline didn't speak to anyone but me." Stefan said.

"So Tyler doesn't know that she killed Carol?" Damon asked.

"No. Nobody but me, and now you two, know that." Stefan said.

* * *

><p>About an hour later, the three boys were sitting having a drink when the elevator came up to their floor then the doors opened. A gorgeous, short, dark haired woman stepped out. She had shoulder length layered hair, dark eye makeup, a leather jacket on, a purple tank top, black skinny jeans and knee length black leather very high heeled platform boots on.<p>

"Daria." Damon smirked. "This is my brother, Stefan." Damon said. Damon stood up and hugged her as did Ric then Daria shook Stefan's hand.

"Hey, Stefan. Nice to finally meet you." She smiled.

"You too." Stefan smiled back. Daria's heels were 6 inches in height but the boys still towered over her as she was only 5 feet tall without shoes on.

"Where's Zo?" Daria asked Damon.

"She's at a meeting with Caroline." Damon said.

"That's the chick you brought from Crappy Falls, right?" Daria asked and Damon chuckled.

"Yes, Daria. I told you about Caroline already, if you remember." He pointed out.

"Oh, right." She nodded.

"Want to go out tonight?" Ric asked her with a smirk and she laughed.

"You know the answer to that, honey." She winked at him and he and Damon laughed. "Do I still have clothes here? I can't go out clubbing in this." She pointed to herself.

"You live like five minutes from here. You can run home and change." Ric said amused and she shrugged.

"I'm avoiding Rob. He's being a fucktard." She said and they laughed.

"What'd he do this time?" Damon smirked and she sighed as they sat down.

"The band are pressuring him to take this record deal that they were offered and then go on a four month tour around the States. But he doesn't want to go in case they get famous because he thinks I won't turn him if he gets famous. That and he won't go without me and I'm not going on tour with a bunch of smelly humans. It's disgusting. None of them shower more than like once a week except Rob." She rolled her eyes and the guys laughed.

"Why can't he just go on tour, do the band thing for a few years and you can turn him later? Do you care if he's like 30 when he turns?" Damon asked her.

"I don't care if he's 50 when he turns. He'll still be Rob." She shrugged. "But he's totally paranoid that I won't love him anymore or I won't want him if he looks a lot older than me." She sighed.

"Daria, just turn him already. You know he's going to love you until the end of time. You're like his whole world." Ric said to her.

"I'm not worried that he'll stop loving me, Ric. I'm worried that he'll miss out on human things if I turn him too early. I turned without really thinking about it and I missed out on being a mom because of it. I don't want that for him." She said sincerely.

"And anyway, you can't go on tour with Rob." Damon said to her.

"Why not?" She said amused.

"Because you and Zoe can't both be gone at the same time." Ric said amused and she laughed.

"What would we do without our girls?" Damon asked her and she laughed. She wasn't one to show it but she'd miss them just as much if she went.

"You two are seriously demented. Anyway, Zoe won't last a whole year away from us." She smirked.

"Let's hope not." Ric muttered.

"In a way, I hope she does because she's wanted this placement for like ten years. But then there's the majorly selfish part that just wants her to tell them to fuck off and stay." Damon smirked and they laughed.

"Agreed." Daria grinned. "I bet Keith is back here in like a month." She smirked.

"Why?" Ric asked.

"Because he has the personality of a dead fish and Zoe will realise that when she doesn't have anybody but him to talk to." Daria said bluntly and they laughed loudly.

"Hey, Keith is nice." Damon said to her.

"Yeah, he can be as nice as he wants. He's still completely dull as fuck." She said and they laughed. "The only thing he ever talks about is tattoos." She rolled her eyes.

"It's his job, Daria." Damon said.

"So what? I don't talk about owning a recording studio all the live long day." She said and they chuckled.

"That's cool though." Stefan said to her.

"It can be cool but sometimes it's really boring when it's quiet and other times I want to drain some of the bands dry because they're that shit." She said and they laughed.

"By the way, is Rob's band playing on Zoe's leaving night? I need to let Sarah know if she's going to need to keep the stage clear." Ric said to her.

"I'll let you know by tomorrow night. I'll probably be talking to him by then." She smirked at Ric and they laughed.

"You and Zoe can have my room tonight. I'll sleep in the party room." Damon said. "Or if Ric's _busy_, I'll sleep on the couch or bunk with Stefan unless he's _busy_ too." Damon said amused.

"Wait a minute." Daria grinned mischievously. "Mr Corporate is coming out on a school night?" She asked in delighted mockery and Damon rolled his eyes while Stefan and Ric laughed. Stefan was so amused by this new side of Damon.

"Shut up, Daria." Damon muttered.

"Yay! I haven't been clubbing with you in weeks!" She said happily and he chuckled.

"I've been busy." He said and she smirked.

"You killed Mandy yet?" She asked and they laughed.

"No, not yet." Damon smirked back.

"You need to fire her." She said.

"I will. Soon." Damon replied and they all laughed.

"Does everybody hate Mandy?" Stefan asked.

"Yes." The three of them said in unison and Stefan chuckled.

"When I go up and visit Damon I always have to compel her to not speak or I'll end up strangling her." Daria said and they laughed.

"Her voice is so annoying." Ric shuddered.

"So is that dumbass door guy's downstairs." Daria said and Damon laughed.

"Thank you." Damon smirked at her and she giggled.

"I haven't met him yet." Stefan said.

"_Misterrr Salvatoooore._" Daria and Damon imitated at the same time then the four of them laughed loudly.

"That is annoying." Stefan agreed with a smile.

"Every fucking day." Damon rolled his eyes.

"Wait, isn't Rob at band practice tonight?" Ric asked.

"Yeah, but it doesn't start until 8.30pm." She shrugged.

"So, go get changed after he leaves." Damon smirked at her and she laughed.

"Yeah, okay." She nodded. "You get Becky to crack yet?" Daria asked Ric and he rolled his eyes.

"She asked Damon out." Ric muttered and Daria laughed.

"Of course she did." She said amused. "All the girls love Mr Corporate." She winked and Damon smirked.

"I know." Damon said teasingly and they laughed.

"Don't you have a new girlfriend yet?" Daria asked him and he scowled at her while Stefan and Ric laughed.

"Shut up, Daria." Damon muttered.

"He likes Caroline so it's only a matter of time." Ric winked at Daria.

"Shut up, Ric." Damon said annoyed and they laughed. Stefan was happy to see that Damon's friends obviously cared about him and knew him well.

"Really? I'm looking forward to meeting her. Zoe likes her already." Daria said.

"Can we not embarrass me with Caroline please?" Damon complained.

"Like we'd ever rat you out in front of her. We can tease you when she's not here." Daria winked at him and he rolled his eyes.

"She's Stefan's best friend." Damon said.

"Awkward." Daria said surprised. "Isn't it weird that your brother's macking on your best friend?" She asked Stefan and he laughed at her choice of words.

"I'm not _macking_ on her." Damon muttered.

"No, Damon used to hit on anything female so I'm used to it." Stefan said amused and Daria laughed.

"Back when he wasn't Mr Relationship?" She asked amused.

"Shut up, Daria." Damon muttered.

"He never told you about his sorority girl parties?" Stefan asked amused and Damon put his forehead in his hand.

"Honest to God, shut up, Stefan." Damon muttered and they laughed.

"No, tell me!" Daria grinned and Stefan laughed.

"Damon used to have like sex and blood parties with groups of sorority girls while I was at school." Stefan said amused and Daria laughed.

"How many girls?" Daria asked with a giggle.

"Oh for God's sake." Damon muttered.

"The most I saw was eight." Stefan said with a smirk and Daria and Ric laughed while Damon scowled at Stefan.

"And you call me a man whore?" Ric chuckled.

"I was single, so what?" Damon asked with a shrug.

"But eight girls in one day?" Daria asked amused.

"Don't kid yourself. That's not the most I've had in one day." Damon smirked and they laughed.

"How many people have you slept with?" Daria asked as she laughed.

"Haven't got the slightest idea. Tens of thousands." Damon said with a cheeky smile.

"Before I would have thought that was crazy but I kind of get it now." Ric smirked.

"That's just because you've slept with hundreds of girls in the last few years." Damon chuckled.

"I went through a phase like that after I turned too." Daria agreed.

"I feel like having a phase like that now." Stefan smirked and they laughed.

"Only took you a century and a half." Damon winked at him.

"I thought you were engaged." Daria said to Stefan surprised.

"I was. We broke up." Stefan shrugged.

"So are you living here now?" Daria asked.

"Yeah." Stefan grinned.

"Ric will love having a girl-hunting buddy." Daria giggled. "Since Damon's totally boring and is always looking for the future Mrs Salvatore." She said and Damon huffed.

"Am not." He said and they laughed.


	9. Chapter 9

I don't own The Vampire Diaries, I'm just a fan :)

* * *

><p>The Difference<p>

Chapter 9

* * *

><p>Caroline and Zoe just left the meeting with YSL and they were in the car service on the way to the penthouse.<p>

"Zoe, thank you so much for taking me with you. That was incredible." Caroline said sincerely.

"You're so welcome, Caroline. I can already tell you're going to be an amazing fashion coordinator." Zoe grinned.

"You think so?" Caroline beamed at her and she smiled fondly at her.

"Yeah." Zoe nodded. "You have real talent, sweetie. Damon's going to be so proud of you when I give him a rundown of the meeting." She agreed.

"He's so different now." Caroline said softly.

"Yeah, I know." Zoe agreed. "He told me about what he was like without his emotions. He told me about when he first met you." Zoe said and Caroline looked surprised.

"He did?" She asked.

"He did." Zoe nodded. "Now that he's accepted emotions again and he's learned what it means to really be cared for, he is just so wonderful."

"I noticed that last night and today. He was so nice." She smiled. Zoe cocked an eyebrow at Caroline's little blush but didn't comment.

"Are you glad you came here?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah." She nodded. "Though I'm a little worried. Damon's been so nice to me by getting me this job, letting me stay with him and Ric and taking me in earlier and getting me a new wardrobe... I'm just worried I'll let him down." She said and Zoe smiled.

"You won't." She said. "Damon cares a lot about you and he'll help you any way he can. You don't ever have to be worried to talk to him about something or ask for help when you need it. I know you might not have the fondest memories of Damon but I know him, the real him. He's probably the kindest and most understanding person I've ever met. I know for a fact that he's really happy to have you here." Zoe said.

"Really?" Caroline asked softly.

"Yes. He feels so badly about the time he was in Mystic Falls. He told me in the car yesterday that he's really worried that you'll be afraid of him and that's the last thing he wants." She said. "I think he'd literally do anything to be able to take that back." Zoe said sadly.

"Honestly..." Caroline said. "I know from experience what it's like to turn your emotions off. I know the difference now. I didn't understand it until it happened to me. I'm not afraid of Damon. I'm not angry at him or anything either. There are no hard feelings from my end with all of that because I get it now." She admitted. "When you turn it off, the monster takes over. I don't actually even care that he bit me and compelled me anymore. I don't ever think about it because it was the monster, not Damon, who did that." She said.

"I promise, if you give him a chance, you won't regret it. He'll be the best friend you could have ever hoped for." Zoe said sincerely.

"You love him don't you?" Caroline asked softly.

"I love Damon." Zoe nodded. "I'm not in love with Damon though. He's just my best friend on the planet. It's the same for him with me too."

"Do you ever wish you could be in love with him?" Caroline asked curiously and Zoe laughed.

"Yeah, all the time. Damon is the best boyfriend ever." She smiled. "When he's in a relationship, there are no other women in the world. He's kind and considerate and sweet and thoughtful. He takes his girlfriends out all the time and treats them like princesses. He's completely faithful and always will be because he doesn't see the point in being with someone if you're going to cheat. He works a lot but he makes up for it with special dates and he's a complete romantic." Zoe smiled.

"That does sound amazing." Caroline nodded.

"Remember he was raised a southern gentleman." Zoe smirked. "As much as he was a cold hearted killer for so long, he told me that he's now back to being almost how he was as a human." Zoe said.

"I'm really looking forward to the chance to get to know him better." Caroline said and Zoe grinned.

"You'll love getting to know him." Zoe winked and Caroline giggled. They'd gotten along so well, Caroline could see why Damon adored Zoe.

* * *

><p>The four of them were still sitting at the couches drinking an hour later when the elevator came up to their floor and the doors opened to reveal Zoe and Caroline.<p>

"Hey." Caroline grinned at them.

"This is Daria." Damon pointed to her.

"Hey, Caroline. It's nice to meet you." Daria smiled at her and shook her hand while Damon and Ric hugged Zoe.

"You too." Caroline grinned at her.

"How was the meeting?" Damon asked Zoe as Caroline hugged Stefan.

"They're sending over the contracts." Zoe winked at Damon and he smiled at her widely.

"Excellent." Damon said proudly. "Who the hell is going to fill in for you?" Damon complained and she laughed.

"Don't worry, boss. Helen is just as good as me. They were impressed by Caroline too." She smiled at Damon.

"Did you have a good time at the meeting, Caroline?" Ric asked her.

"It was amazing." She smiled.

"She's going to be so easy to train." Zoe said to Damon and he nodded in approval.

"That's great." He said.

"Anyway, enough about work. Are you two up for clubbing tonight?" Ric grinned at them.

"We're starting early tomorrow." Zoe said to Ric.

"Mr Corporate is going too." Daria smirked.

"Shut up, Daria." Damon muttered.

"Oh, well, in that case. Hell yeah." Zoe said amused. "You're going out on a school night?" She asked him surprised and they all laughed considering Daria had said the same thing earlier.

"Oh for God's sake. I'm not that boring." Damon muttered annoyed and they laughed.

"Yeah, you kind of are, sweetie." Zoe said to him with a giggle.

"Am not." Damon said affronted.

"You work really hard, Damon. It's understandable that you don't want to go out clubbing every night." Zoe said sincerely and he rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. It's just because fashion week is coming up." Damon pointed out.

"No, it isn't." Ric said with a chuckle.

"Shut up, Ric." Damon muttered and they laughed.

"What time are you going into the office tomorrow?" Zoe asked Damon and he shrugged.

"I'll just go in with you two." He said and Zoe, Ric and Daria's jaws dropped.

"What?" Zoe asked shocked and he sighed.

"Mandy has a day off so I have a fill in tomorrow. Things will go smoothly tomorrow so I'm not worried about going in a bit later." He shrugged. "My first meeting isn't until the afternoon so why don't we all go have lunch and just go to work in the afternoon?" He suggested and Zoe, Ric and Daria looked shocked.

"Sweetie... uh... can vampires come down with something?" Zoe asked and he rolled his eyes.

"Zoe, you're leaving in a week and a half. I caught up on a bunch of work yesterday so that I could have a more relaxed week this week before you leave. It's really not a big deal." Damon pointed out and she smiled at him fondly.

"You keep being sweet like that and I won't be able to leave." She said and he smirked.

"Promise?" He asked and everyone laughed.

"Don't tempt me." She laughed.

"Are you coming back for fashion week?" Daria asked Zoe.

"Yeah." Zoe smiled at her fondly. The two of them had become so close.

"You can take my plus one if you want, Daria. Since Caroline will have her own pass." Damon shrugged.

"Hey." Ric said annoyed and Damon laughed.

"You don't care about the actual shows, Ric. You're only going to get laid." Damon pointed out.

"I don't care about the shows either, Damon. I'd only be going to see Zo." Daria said and Damon sighed.

"Fine, you can compel your way in then." Damon muttered. "Who would want to watch the shows? The seat needs to be filled." He pointed out.

"I'll go." Stefan said and Damon rolled his eyes.

"No, you won't. This spot is supposed to be for like my 'date'. I'm not taking you." Damon said and they laughed. Caroline was a little surprised at that as he'd asked her before the job happened.

"Why not?" Stefan asked amused.

"Because there will be paparazzi." Damon said.

"We wouldn't want the public to think Mr Corporate swings the other way." Daria said amused.

"Daria. That is my _brother_." Damon screwed up his face and they laughed.

"You could just tell the reporters that." Zoe said and Damon scowled at her for being logical.

"Think Tin Tin would go?" Damon asked Daria.

"Not if you call her that." Daria giggled.

"She probably would though." Ric said.

"Either that or I could always ask Becky." Damon winked at Ric who glared at him and the rest of them laughed.

"Dick." Ric muttered and Damon smirked.

"No, I'll ask Tin Tin." Damon said as he fished out his phone and text Maritina. When he was done he put it back in his pocket. "Do you actually want to go though?" Damon asked Stefan. "I can get you a seat if you actually want to see the thing." Damon said.

"I've never been to a fashion show." Stefan shrugged.

"You don't want to. It's ridiculously boring." Damon said and Zoe rolled her eyes.

"That is actual sacrilege, Damon." Zoe said to him and he laughed.

"It's not like I want to go, I _have_ to go. You know the second the photographers leave I'm ducking out of there." Damon said amused.

"You're just going to leave Mari sitting by herself?" Daria asked surprised.

"No, if she likes it I'll stay, if not, she can come to the bar with me." Damon replied. "Actually, Tin Tin will be perfect since she hates everything, she'll probably hate that too." Damon smirked and Daria, Zoe and Ric laughed. "Anyway, Zoe, can you give me the run down before there's anymore drinking?" Damon asked her.

"Yeah." She nodded then the two of them left to go to the formal dining room that Damon also used as a home office.

"Ric, we totally have to milk it this week." Daria said to Ric who chuckled.

"Absolutely." He grinned.

"Milk what?" Caroline asked them curiously.

"Damon being fun and coming out." Ric smirked.

"How much does he usually work?" Caroline asked surprised.

"He's usually at the office for about 7.30am and he usually comes home between 6pm and 9pm." Ric said and both Caroline and Stefan's jaws dropped.

"But that's when he doesn't have dinners he has to go to. Then he'll come home and change at like 5pm." Ric said. "He hardly ever takes a day off. I'm kind of shocked that he took today off. I haven't even seen him look at his blackberry."

"I feel bad that on his rare day off, he took me to the office." Caroline said.

"Don't." Ric shook his head. "You're probably why he took the day off. So he could get that done and show you around a little." Ric shrugged. "But, he's still Damon. On the odd occasion he'll wake up in the morning and be like 'fuck them, I'm not going in'." Ric laughed.

"How often do you work at the club?" Stefan asked curiously.

"I'm usually there every night at least for a little while." Ric said. "Even if it's only an hour or two."

"Damon probably wouldn't have to work as much if Mandy didn't constantly fuck up." Daria said.

"Zoe said she's going to tattle to the board if he doesn't fire her." Ric chuckled and Daria laughed.

"He'll just compel the board to forget it. I think he secretly likes having Mandy as his secretary so he has an outlet for all of his stress." Daria said.

"There are better outlets for stress than yelling at a moron." Ric said and they laughed.

"Yeah but he doesn't want to kill or start back up with the man whoring, so what else is there?" Daria asked Ric who sighed.

"Who knows." Ric muttered.

"He needs to get another girlfriend. He's always happy when he's got a girlfriend." Daria said to Ric.

"I told you. Two weeks, he'll have another one." Ric smirked and she laughed.

"Why two weeks?" Stefan asked and they laughed.

"Because since he moved to New York, this is the longest he's been single. He met Zoe on his first night in New York and the two of them were inseparable for four months then he was single for a month after Zoe. He was single for three weeks after Jenny. He was single for six weeks after Lily. But this time it's been two months. He'll start getting all mopey soon if he doesn't." Daria said amused. "Though, I am happy he ditched Zytanya." She said and Ric laughed.

"Totally." Ric smirked.

"What was wrong with Zytanya?" Stefan asked amused.

"She was just high maintenance and she didn't like Zoe and me." Daria said. "She hated Ric." Daria laughed. "But she didn't like any women talking to Damon at all, though she didn't say that to him."

"What did Damon like about her?" Stefan asked.

"She is seriously hot." Ric said and they laughed.

"That's not why he liked her though. She was so nice to him and she fell in love with him really quickly. He was like her everything but that's his own fault." Daria laughed.

"Why's it his fault?" Stefan asked confused.

"Because Damon is like the best boyfriend ever." Daria said amused. "He works a lot so when he's actually with a girl, he treats her like a goddess." Daria giggled. "Presents and crazy amazing dates and he's a total sap." She said amused.

"Told you." Ric said to Stefan with a smirk.

"What did the girls look like?" Stefan asked.

"Well, since it's Damon, he doesn't exactly have a type. Girls are girls." Ric laughed.

"You've seen Zoe. Jenny was a blonde supermodel." Daria said amused and Stefan's jaw dropped.

"Hottest woman ever." Ric said with a nod.

"Lily was petite with natural red hair and freckles. She's a nurse and probably the sweetest girl ever." Daria said. "And Keith and his boss introduced Zytanya to Damon. She's a tattoo artist from Russia. She's got black hair with pink highlights, cheek piercings and lots of tattoos." Daria said.

"So a blonde, a redhead, a girl with black hair and Zoe?" Stefan asked amused.

"All completely different personalities too. Apart from Jenny's mental last month, she was so majorly laid back and fun. Lily was quite shy and nice. Zytanya was wild and loud." Daria said.

"It's Damon. He doesn't have a type." Ric said amused.

"Who's his 'special friend'?" Stefan asked with a smirk and both Ric and Daria laughed.

"Nobody knows! He won't tell us!" Daria exclaimed.

"We've all tried to follow him to find out but he's so wily that we always lose him." Ric laughed as did they.

"Why won't he fess up?" Caroline asked with a giggle.

"At first I think it just wasn't a big deal but now I think he purposely doesn't tell us just to piss us off because we all want to know who it is." Ric laughed.

"That's how Damon ended up with pink hair." Daria laughed. "We were all playing truth or dare and we dared him to tell us so he took the consequence and Zoe made him dye his hair pink." Daria giggled.

"That's funny." Stefan said amused.

"I bet it's a guy." Daria giggled. Seconds later Damon appeared.

"It's not a guy." Damon winked then sped off again and they laughed.

"What do you know about the special friend?" Stefan asked amused. He was now dying to know too.

"All we know is that he always has the same special friend every time he's single." Ric said.

"That either means that this girl is always single..." Stefan said.

"Or she cheats on whoever she's with." Daria smirked. "I have a theory that it's an older married woman who hates her husband." She said. Damon came back into the room laughing at that with Zoe following.

"What makes you think that?" Damon asked with a smirk.

"It just sounds like something you would do." Ric said amused.

"Plus, that makes it kind of exciting. A tawdry affair... Will the husband find out about his wife's young _lover_?" She said in a mysterious voice and they laughed at Daria's impression.

"Why do you all want to know so badly?" Damon asked amused as he sat down.

"Just because you won't tell us!" Daria exclaimed and he chuckled.

"Bet it's Mandy." Ric said and Damon's jaw dropped and his eyes widened.

"I could actually sock you for that!" Damon exclaimed and they laughed. "Oh, just the thought of that." He shuddered visibly and they laughed.

"You'll tell me though, right? Since I'm your brother." Stefan grinned and Damon rolled his eyes.

"Nope." Damon said.

"Is it embarrassing?" Daria asked amused.

"No." Damon shook his head. "But I'm still not telling you so stop asking." He smirked.

"He won't tell." Zoe said amused.

"Can you just give us something, Damon? Please?" Daria smiled at him innocently with wide eyes and he laughed.

"Fine. Your little theory is correct." Damon smirked and she gasped.

"I knew it!" She yelled delighted and clapped. "That's so awesome!" She exclaimed loudly and they laughed. "Go on." She said and he laughed.

"That's all you get." Damon winked at her and she deadpanned.

"It can't be! You can't just say that to me and not give _any_ details." She said and he laughed.

"You're such a little gossip, Daria." Damon said amused.

"Oh, c'mon! My life is seriously boring! You need to give me some excitement!" She pleaded and they laughed. "Just tell me... is it like a secret rendezvous in motels? Do you have code names? How do you contact each other for a booty call? Ooh... Is it kinky?" She asked with a huge grin and Damon was physically shaking with laughter as was everyone else.

"Tell you what, Daria?" Damon said amused. "I will tell you all the details and who it is for your birthday." He said and she gasped. "Only IF, you don't bring it up again until then and don't tell anyone else." Damon said to her and she thought about that.

"So I think I'm going to go get changed." She said changing the subject and everyone laughed loudly as she was clearly dying to know.

"You do that." Damon smirked at her. She pulled her jacket on and hurried over to the elevator.

"I'll be back in fifteen minutes. Order my usual." She said then left.

"You're seriously going to tell her?" Ric asked once the elevator was gone.

"No." Damon smirked and everyone laughed loudly. "Because she won't be able to go that long without bringing it up." Damon said amused.

"I know who it is." Zoe sing-songed.

"No you don't." Damon said.

"I so do." She smirked.

"I didn't tell you." Damon replied.

"I know. I put two and two together after I saw you once." She grinned.

"No way. You don't know." He shook his head. She got her phone out and typed on the screen then handed it over to him and his eyes widened and his head snapped up. "Uh... No it's not." He lied and they all laughed.

"Damon you're the worst liar ever." Ric laughed. Damon deleted everything on the screen then handed her phone back.

"Still going to deny it?" Zoe smirked.

"You know I think we should go get the take out." Damon said to Zoe and they laughed at him wanting to get her out of the house.

"They deliver." She said amused.

"But it's such a nice night for fresh air." He said wide eyed and she laughed.

"You're dead. You don't need fresh air." She pointed out and they laughed at Damon.

"I _will_ pick you up and throw you over my shoulder." Damon warned and she giggled.

"Fine, let's go." She rolled her eyes.

"Aren't you going to take our takeout orders?" Ric asked amused and Damon scowled at him.

"Uh... yeah." Damon said and they laughed. He grabbed two menus from the cupboard and gave them to Caroline and Stefan then gave a notepad to Ric. Minutes later they'd all written down what they wanted and Damon and Zoe left.

"Why doesn't he want anyone to know?" Caroline asked.

"Because knowing Damon, whoever his 'special friend' is would get him into trouble if it got out." Ric smirked and Stefan and Caroline laughed.

* * *

><p>Damon got Zoe outside the building.<p>

"Please don't tell anyone." Damon whispered to her seriously.

"I've known about this since after you broke up with Jenny. I've never told anyone." She pointed out and he nodded.

"It just can't get out that the CDSM of Saks is screwing the CEO of Bergdorf's wife on occasion." Damon said seriously. "That would be a major scandal." He said.

"I know." She nodded. "Maybe you should stop." She said amused and he smirked.

"Where's the fun in that?" He asked and she laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Oh, Damon." She said fondly. "What are we going to do with you?" She giggled.


	10. Chapter 10

I don't own The Vampire Diaries, I'm just a fan :)

* * *

><p>The Difference<p>

Chapter 10

* * *

><p>By the time Damon and Zoe got back to the penthouse, Daria was back.<p>

"Zoe knows!" Daria exclaimed when they got back and Damon chuckled.

"Looks like you already broke our deal." Damon said amused and her face dropped in horror.

"Pretend I didn't say that!" She said and he laughed.

"Too late." He winked.

"No fair." She said sadly and he sighed.

"Fine, I'll pretend you didn't say that." He said and she beamed at him while everyone else laughed at him being a total sucker for a sad face.

"I love you, Damon." She smiled and he chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah. Eat your food." He handed her a box of Thai takeout and she laughed.

"Is Daria right, Zoe? Is it tawdry?" Ric asked amused and Zoe giggled.

"It's so tawdry it's scandalous." She said and they laughed while Damon scowled at her.

"Can't we talk about something else?" Damon asked annoyed and they laughed.

"Like what?" Zoe asked amused.

"Stefan? What college are you going to?" Damon asked and they laughed.

"Haven't thought about it yet." He shrugged.

"NYU is less strict. You should go there." Daria said.

"Cool, I'll see if they have what I was doing." Stefan smiled. "Damon, do you have any pictures of your exes?" He asked and Damon rolled his eyes.

"What for?" Damon asked annoyed.

"He totally wants to check out Jenny." Ric said amused and Damon laughed.

"Fine." Damon rolled his eyes then went down to his bedroom. He was back a few minutes later with three pictures and he handed them to Stefan.

"Wow." Stefan gasped when he saw the picture of Jenny.

"Exactly." Ric agreed and the girls laughed.

"It was such a shame that Damon refused to compel her to stop being paranoid because she was so awesome." Daria said.

"Wow." Stefan said again when he saw the next picture of Zytanya.

"Yeah, but she was a bitch." Ric said and Damon rolled his eyes.

"No, she wasn't." Damon said.

"Yes, she was." Daria said and Damon looked at her surprised.

"I thought only Ric didn't like her." Damon said confused.

"She was fun when she was drunk but she didn't like me and Zoe, so why would we like her?" Daria asked him. "Alex and Dante liked her."

"She's not hot like the other two but she's beautiful." Stefan said pointing to the picture of Lily.

"Lily's not stereotypically gorgeous but she's one of the best people you'd ever meet." Zoe said sincerely.

"Right, you've seen them." Damon said motioning for the pictures and Stefan handed them over then Damon took them back to his room.

"What's on at the club tonight?" Daria asked Ric.

"Top floor is metal and the big floor is pop rock and pop punk." Ric said.

"Excellent. I can rock out upstairs with Mr Corporate." She grinned.

"You really need to stop calling me that." Damon muttered when he walked back in.

"Dude, what's the point in living for eternity when you don't have any fun because you work all the time?" Daria asked him bluntly and he sighed.

"At the risk of sounding pathetic, I have fun working." Damon said honestly. "I partied for over a century so that's not exactly my idea of fun anymore." He said. "Besides, I'm good at my job. Really good at it. It's nice to be good at something." Damon said to her sincerely.

"You really know how to do a guilt trip." Daria muttered and he laughed.

"That wasn't my intention." He replied.

"We just miss you when you work so much." Daria said and Damon smiled fondly at her.

"Maybe, I'll ease up a little on the 80 hour weeks after fashion week then." Damon said and she grinned.

"About time." She nodded but Damon could tell that made her happy.

"Think I should ask Keith to come out with us?" Zoe asked.

"No." Daria said annoyed and Zoe laughed.

"Why not?" Zoe asked amused.

"Because he's _so_ boring." Daria complained.

"He's not boring." Zoe giggled.

"Zo, I swear to God. You'll go to Tokyo with him and send him back in like a month because you'll realise he has absolutely no personality." Daria said and they laughed. "I mean Rob doesn't have that much personality either but he has a giant cock so it makes up for it." Daria shrugged and they all buckled over with laughter.

"I told you she was blunt." Damon said to Caroline amused and she giggled.

"I happen to like talking about tattoos." Zoe said to Daria as they'd had this conversation before time and time again.

"It can be quite interesting." Damon agreed. "You can't dislike him just because you don't like tattoos." Damon said to Daria.

"I do like tattoos." Daria said.

"Why do you say you don't then?" Zoe asked with a giggle.

"Because I'm not going to be your practice dummy like Damon and Ric." She retorted and everyone laughed.

"She did talk me into another one." Damon agreed amused.

"Oh, God. What are you getting this time? Some crappy butterfly or something?" Daria rolled her eyes and they laughed.

"A pin up girl." Zoe smirked.

"Well, at least that's semi-interesting." Daria conceded and they laughed at her reluctance to admit she liked that idea.

"A vamped pin up girl." Damon corrected.

"What do you mean?" Zoe asked Damon. He changed his face to his true face.

"Like this." Damon pointed to his face.

"Cool, but you'll have to let me take a picture so I can draw it." She said as he changed his face back.

"Get a picture of Daria. It's supposed to be the feminine version." He pointed out.

"Can you do another one on me?" Ric asked Zoe.

"Of course." She grinned at him widely and Damon chuckled.

"You're both out of your minds. You do know that Zoe is in training, right? Those will be on your bodies _forever_." Daria said and they laughed.

"She's good at it." Damon pointed out.

"I know that. And after she turns, she'll probably end up the best in the world, but maybe you should wait until she's perfected it." Daria said and Damon shrugged.

"I don't care about it being perfect. Nothing in life is perfect so why should this be?" Damon asked and she sighed.

"Demented." Daria muttered and they laughed.

"Besides, not that she will but if she fucks it up, she can just do a cover up later." Damon shrugged. "She needs to practice on somebody." He said.

* * *

><p>Damon was in the kitchen later making himself a strong cocktail. He'd need to get himself silly drunk so he wouldn't stress out about missing work in the morning. He was kind of obsessed with his job but he needed to learn to develop some kind of balance as clearly his friends were getting annoyed with him for working so much. Caroline came in and he smiled at her then he remembered about Liz and his smile fell a little and became sad and her eyes widened.<p>

"Stefan told you." She whispered and Damon closed his eyes and cursed himself internally for being so obvious.

"Can I show you something?" Damon asked her curiously.

"What do you want to show me?" She asked surprised at the change in subject.

"New York at it's best." He said with a smirk then grabbed her hand and vampire sped her upstairs and down the hall leading to Ric's room. He fished out the keys from his pocket and opened a door across from Ric's room. He went up the steps and she followed him up and grinned at the sight of the small roof terrace overlooking the city. He walked across it then he leapt up about twenty feet to the very top of the building and took a seat. From the ground it looked like a point but from up there it was a flat square and was about four feet wide so there was space for two to sit. Damon patted the space next to him and Caroline smiled then leapt up next to him and gasped at the sight of the dark city all around them.

"Oh my god." She whispered as she looked at the city lights. It took her breath away. They were so high up.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Damon asked softly.

"It's... amazing." She whispered as she looked around. She thought this was incredibly romantic but obviously didn't say that.

"I come up here sometimes. It's a good place to think." Damon told her. "Stefan made me promise not to say anything, but you know what? Liz was important to me and I wanted to tell you that. She was a good friend and I'm really sad that she died." Damon said. He hadn't wanted to get into it in the apartment where everyone could overhear.

"Thank you." She said sincerely. "Nobody will talk to me about it. I want to talk about her but nobody brings her up in case I lose it... It's starting to feel like she never existed because nobody ever says anything about her." She confessed and Damon nodded.

"I'll talk to you about her anytime." Damon said softly. She thought that was lovely of him to say that.

"Did Stefan tell you what I did?" She asked and Damon could hear the shame in her voice and she looked down at her lap. Damon reached forward with his hand and turned her face to look at him.

"He did." He nodded.

"I'm sorry." She said as her eyes filled with tears.

"Listen to me." Damon said softly. "You don't ever have anything to apologise for. Especially not to me. I turned my emotions off because I was lonely. You actually had a real reason, unlike me. I just wish I could have been there for you. I'm sorry you had to go through all of that." He said and she couldn't help it. She started to cry. Damon pulled her onto his lap sideways and put his arms around her and she rested her head on his chest. He stroked her hair softly as he held her tightly.

"We just got so close. After all those years of fighting. Then I lost her as soon as I got her back." Caroline whispered.

"The only comfort that you can take from it, I suppose, is that she died knowing you love her." Damon said sincerely. "I remember her saying once that she regretted that she let her relationship with you suffer because of her job. From what Stefan said, it sounded like she fixed that with you. So she would have died without regrets." He said.

"Thank you for saying that. It helps a lot." She sobbed. Nobody had ever said anything like that to her before. All anyone ever said to her was 'sorry for your loss' or other superficial things like that.

"You know something else that might help?" Damon asked.

"What?" She asked looking up into those eyes.

"There's this little place in central park where you can dedicate a bench to someone then it has their name on it. Why don't we go dedicate a bench to Liz? That way, any time you want to think about her you can go to her bench. That way she'll never be forgotten." Damon said to her and she threw her arms around his neck and crushed him with a hug. She thought that was the most thoughtful thing anyone had ever said to her and she kind of loved him in that moment.

"Would you go with me?" She asked him as she stared into his eyes.

"Anytime you want." He nodded and she saw the sincerity in his features.

"Thank you." She said softly.

"You're welcome." He smiled.

"I should probably get off you." She said and he smirked at her.

"I'm not complaining." He said and she giggled at his cheeky face. She felt so much better.

"Is that so?" She asked amused.

"It's not very often now that I have a beautiful woman in my lap." He winked at her and she laughed.

"It's funny that your friends call you Mr Relationship." She teased and he chuckled.

"I'll tell you a secret." He said and she giggled.

"Okay." She said.

"That doesn't actually bother me because it's true. I like having a girlfriend." He smiled. "But don't tell them I said that." He smirked and she smiled.

"Your secret's safe with me." She said and he laughed.

"Good." He said amused.

"Damon, there's something I want to tell you." She said and he could see the insecurity in her face.

"You can tell me anything you want." He said reassuringly.

"When I turned my emotions off... I had a few guys that I used to sleep with, compel and feed from." She said and he nodded.

"I know. Stefan told me." Damon said. She saw on his face that there was absolutely no judgement whatsoever. Not that she thought there would be but even when Stefan tried his hardest not to be judgemental, he was, whereas Damon just looked like he was a little worried about her.

"I just wanted to say... after I turned, I couldn't understand that at all, but I remember what it was like with no emotion and I know now it's the monster that does those things. I'm sorry that I hated you for that." She said and he shook his head.

"Like I said before, you don't ever have anything to apologise to me for. I shouldn't have had my emotions off in the first place. I only did because I was too much of a coward to face having feelings. I wish I had never hurt you. I'll regret that for the rest of my life." He said honestly.

"Don't." She shook her head. "Can we just start over?" She asked him and he looked surprised.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Can we just pretend that we didn't have those things happen? Can we both have a clean slate?" She asked.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Damon smirked at her.

"Why?" She asked surprised but a little confused because Damon looked a little amused.

"Because if you give me a clean slate, I'll end up asking you out." Damon said and her jaw dropped.

"Why?" She asked shocked.

"I like you." Damon shrugged. She nearly fell over at him just hitting out with it like that but she couldn't help being really happy about it since she was developing her own rather large crush on him.

"Why just if I give you a clean slate?" She asked and he chuckled.

"Because I wouldn't go out with me if I were you." He said.

"Don't you think you should let me decide that?" She cocked an eyebrow at him.

"How about this then? You know I'm going to ask you out if you give me a clean slate." He said amused. "You know I won't if you don't. So you can think about it and let me know." He said with a smirk.

"Alright." She nodded. "Okay, I thought about it." She said and he chuckled at her quick response.

"And?" He asked. She was still sitting on his lap with her arms around his neck and his around her waist.

"Clean slate." She said and he smirked. He was rather happy about her answer.

"I see." He said with a smile. "Will you go out with me?" He asked her and she giggled.

"Yes." She smiled and he crashed his lips to hers. He pulled her closer so she was flush against him and she deepened the kiss and ran her fingers through his short hair. She thought that it was so romantic given they were practically sitting at the top of the city.

Caroline was so glad she moved to New York.

* * *

><p>Ric had heard Damon open up the door to the roof half an hour earlier and they had to leave soon so he went up silently to tell him to hurry up. He looked up and saw Caroline sitting on Damon's lap and the two of them were full on making out. He hurried down the stairs trying his best not to laugh his ass off like he was dying to as they would hear that. He sped down to the living room and they all saw his amused face.<p>

"You need to come see this." Ric whispered to them.

"What?" Daria asked and Ric was trying not to crack up with laughter.

"Zoe, I'll need to carry you or he'll hear you coming." Ric said and she went over and he picked her up. "Stefan, Daria. Don't make a sound, just follow me." Ric said then the three of them went upstairs and out onto the roof. Ric pointed up and the four of them burst out laughing causing Damon and Caroline to look down at them. Damon rolled his eyes and Caroline giggled embarrassed.

"That didn't take long." Daria said between giggles.

"The four of you piss off." Damon said annoyed.

"I told you." Ric said to Damon amused then the four of them hurried back downstairs and Damon sighed.

"Sorry. Ric's a dumbass." Damon said and she giggled.

"It's okay." She smiled. "Won't this be weird with you being my boss and the fact I'm living with you now?" She asked.

"Well, if it ended up being more than one date, it's not frowned upon at work but it's better not to flaunt it either. But upside, because you work with me, I'd be able to see you more often." He said and she smiled. She liked that he'd thought of that and she thought he was turning out to be very sweet. "As far as living together, it's not exactly living together. We both have bedrooms in the same apartment, yes, but Stefan and Ric do too. We're buying the apartment below us so if you and Stefan would rather live there then that's cool too." He shrugged. "If you'd rather not go there, you can tell me." He said sincerely.

"Well, I like you too so we could give it a try." She smiled. "This won't be weird for Zoe though, right?" She asked concerned.

"No, we're just friends. That's it." Damon promised. "Besides, yesterday in the car she was trying to talk me into asking you out." Damon chuckled.

"Your friends are really nice, Damon." She smiled.

"Daria and Zoe are great. You can decide for yourself about the others when you meet them. They might come out later." Damon shrugged.

"I'm looking forward to it." She smiled. "Where are you taking me on this date?" She asked and he chuckled.

"It depends on what kind of date you want." Damon replied.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Well, do you want a fancy date, a romantic date or a fun date?" He asked with a smirk.

"I kind of want to see this sappy Damon everyone keeps talking about." She said and he laughed. "But I like the idea of a fun date too. Can they be combined?" She asked and he chuckled.

"Yes." He smiled. "I'll think of something." He nodded. "It's probably getting late. We should go get ready if we're going to Ric's club." Damon smiled.

"Save me a dance?" She asked him and he chuckled.

"You know I will." He smiled. He put his arm under her knees then held her around the waist and jumped down to the terrace. Caroline felt like swooning at how romantic that little gesture was. He set her down on her feet after a moment. "I'll look into how to get a bench in central park." He said and she smiled softly at him.

"That means so much to me." She replied.

"It'll be nice to have a private place where she can be remembered." He said.


End file.
